USA TODAY | FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020 | SECTION BINDEX CLOSE CHG
Dow Jones Industrial Avg. 21,413.44 x 469.
S&P 500 2,526.90 x 56.
Nasdaq composite 7,487.31 x 126.
T-note, 10-year yield 0.595 x 0.
SOURCES USA TODAY RESEARCH, BLOOMBERG
Dow Jones Industrial Avg.
18,24,26,28,AP SEPT. MARCH469.30,22,
20,000 21,THURSDAY MARKETS
JAPAN’S SOFTBANK ENDS
ITS OFFER FOR WEWORK
Japanese technology company Soft-
Bank Group Corp. called off its of-
fering of up to $3 billion worth of
shares in office-space rental venture
WeWork, though it remains commit-
ted to its $5 billion bailout of the fi-
nancially troubled company. SoftBank
and its Vision Fun has promised to
invest more than $14 billion in We-
Work, including the latest bailout
money.
BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR
FIREARMS SOAR IN MARCH
Background checks required to buy
firearms have spiked to record num-
bers in the past month, fueled by a
run on guns from Americans worried
about their safety during the coro-
navirus crisis. According to figures
from the FBI, 3.7 million background
checks were done in March – the most
for a single month since the system
began in 1998. It eclipsed the previous
record, set in December 2015, when
3.3 million checks were conducted.
T-MOBILE COMPLETES
TAKEOVER OF SPRINT
Mobile carrier T-Mobile completed the
takeover of rival Sprint, creating a
wireless giant that rivals AT&T and
Verizon in size. The companies an-
nounced the deal, valued at $31.
billion based on T-Mobile’s closing
stock price Tuesday, two years ago.
The Federal Communications Commis-
sion and the Department of Justice
approved the deal last year. State
attorneys general sued to block the
deal, saying it would add billions to
consumers’ wireless bills. A federal
judge ruled for the companies in Feb-
ruary. T-Mobile said Wednesday that
its CEO, John Legere, is stepping
down a month earlier than expected,
handing the job off to COO Mike Siev-
ert.
WEWORK WORKSPACE BY YURI KAGEYAMA/AP
MONEYLINE
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We round up 50 titles suitable for all ages from
newborns to teenagers. Page 5BKeep your kids booked with
a reading list for quarantine
States such as Nevada and Florida
that depend heavily on tourism will be
hit hardest by coronavirus-related job
losses this year while rural states will
be most insulated, according to an
analysis by IHS Markit.
“All 50 states will experience de-
clines” in employment, says IHS re-
gional economist Karl Kuykendall. He
added, “States that rely a lot on travel
are going to be hit particularly hard.”
Midwest manufacturing strong-
holds will also be hammered as con-
sumer demand for cars and other
products wilts and some factories re-
main closed to contain the spread of
the pandemic, he says. States that ex-
perience higher infection rates could
lag as more residents continue to hun-
ker down at home.
IHS projected the percentage drop
in employment for each state in 2020
rather than total job losses, which are
likely to be higher in more populous
states. The forecast accounts for a
plunge as the outbreak keeps restau-
rants, stores and other businesses
shuttered until late spring or early
summer an then a gradual rebound the
rest of the year as most merchants re-
open. Yet IHS’s forecast still leaves
payrolls at the end of the 2020 below
their levels a year earlier in every state.
The Labor Department on Thursday
reported 6.6 million initial applica-
tions for unemployment benefits last
week after tallying a record 3.3 millionthe previous week. Such claims repre-
sent the most accurate barometer of
layoffs across the country and include
breakdowns for each state.
The drops in employment that IHS is
forecasting, however, include layoffs as
well as reduced hiring and reflect the re-
ality that job cuts may pick up steam in
some states over the next couple of
months and slow in others.Sharpest projected
COVID-19 job lossHere are the five states with the
sharpest projected declines in employ-
ment this year, according to IHS:Nevada
Estimated employment decline:
9.8%.
Payrolls in leisure and hospitality
make up a quarter of all jobs, more than
twice the U.S. average, IHS says. Nevada
casino-hotels, including those in Las
Vegas, are closed. Many Americans,
fearful of being infected on airplanes,
have shunned flying and could do so for
some time even after they resume other
activities.Florida
Estimated employment decline:
7.9%.
The Sunshine State similarly de-
pends on worldwide tourist attractions
such as its beaches and Disney World.
The state also could be hit by an outsizeNevada, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida are among the states hit the
hardest by the coronavirus. PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGESBiggest losses
States that rely heavily on tourism,
manufacturing hit hardest by virus
Paul Davidson
USA TODAYSee JOB LOSSES, Page 2BINGLEWOOD, Calif. – They arrived
before dawn on Monday.
Hundreds of construction workers
got out of their trucks and cars, put on
their white hardhats and reflective or-
ange and yellow vests and headed for
work at the NFL stadium being built
for the Los Angeles Rams and the Los
Angeles Chargers – on a day unlike any
yet.
On Sunday, the company oversee-
ing construction of the 70,000-seat
SoFi Stadium confirmed a trade work-
er at the site had tested positive for
COVID-19.
Less than 24 hours later, Tommy
Cisneros, a painter, stood with a co-
worker in a parking lot filling up next to
the stadium.
“Everybody’s kind of spooked, on
edge,’’ Cisneros, 60, told USA TODAY.
“You know everybody’s scared about
catching it. There must be a lot of pres-
sure to get this (stadium) finished.’’
From the postponement of the
Olympics to the NBA suspending its
season to the cancellation of the col-
lege basketball tournaments, the
sports world has been brought to a vir-
tual halt by the coronavirus pandemic.
But the construction of sports facili-
ties continues, and it’s putting a spot-
light on the tension between economic
pressures and safety concerns.
In states that have closed most
businesses, the construction of sports
facilities is subject to the same test as
other commerce: Is the project “essen-
tial”? Yet it’s not clear why some pro-
jects have been halted as non-essen-
tial while others have been deemed es-
sential and allowed to go forward.Many contractors also try to ob-
serve standard COVID-19 safety proto-
col, such as staying six feet apart but
the standards aren’t always strictly
enforced.
Last week, the companies oversee-
ing construction of the Raiders’ new
NFL stadium in Las Vegas and the Tex-
as Rangers’ new Major League Base-
ball stadium in Arlington, Texas each
disclosed that a worker at their respec-
tive sites had tested positive for CO-
VID-19.
Like the project at SoFi Stadium,
work on those facilities continues,
with about 2,000 construction work-
ers on the job at the Raiders’ stadium
site and a much smaller crew putting
on the finishing touches at the Rang-
ers’ new stadium.
The Rams, Chargers and Raiders
were expected to be in their new stadi-
ums for the 2020 NFL season, but
they’d have to find temporary homes if
construction cannot be completed in
time. In addition to likely paying rent
to play in other stadiums, the teams
potentially would lose out on revenue,
too.
SoFi Stadium, for example, is
scheduled to officially open with pop
singer Taylor Swift’s concert July 25.
The stadium is being built on a 298-
acre development expected to gener-
ate millions of dollars of steady income
thanks to a 300-room hotel, a 6,000-
seat performing arts center and a host
of other amenities.
At Allegiant Stadium, which will be
the Raiders’ new home, Garth BrooksBuilding
sports
stadiums
goes on
The pressure of getting
done vs. coronavirus
Josh Peter
USA TODAYSee STADIUMS, Page 2BAn aerial view of Allegiant Stadium,
the NFL stadium under construction
in Las Vegas, in December 2019. AP