The Wall Street Journal - 04.04.2020 - 05.04.2020

M

ike Wirth was upbeat when he told a roomful

of investors in New York’s St. Regis Hotel on

March 3 he would bump elbows instead of

shake hands at Chevron Corp.’s annual analyst

meeting. It was two days after New York re-

ported its first confirmed case of Covid-19.

Chevron handed out hand sanitizer as swag instead of the

travel power adapters and souvenir pieces of shale rock it had

in the past. The chief executive assured the room his company

had enough cash to ride out any serious downturn.

Eight days later, on March 11, David MacLennan was at home

when a text from his sister flashed the name “Rudy Gobert.” It

took the Cargill Inc. CEO a moment to place him as a basketball

player who had just tested positive for coronavirus. The Na-

tional Basketball Association was suspending its season.

Mr. MacLennan briefly wondered what ESPN would talk

about without sports. Then his mind turned to the empty

stadiums that serve burgers made from the agriculture gi-

ant’s beef, on buns baked with the wheat that Cargill trades.

“What’s next?” he asked his senior executives in a private

PleaseturntopageB

THE MONTH

THAT

CHANGED

EVERYTHING

March began with a booming economy

and ended with giant companies

begging for bailouts. This is how CEOs

lived through a month that ravaged

businesses like nothing before it.

MARCH 31

America’s 500

biggest public

companies areworth

$3 trillion lessthan

they were at the

start of the month.

MARCH 16

AMC decides to

close 635 U.S. movie

theaters.More than

30,000 showtimes

for the next day

are canceled.

MARCH 27

Macy’s decides to

furlough most of its

125,000 employees.

MARCH 17

Goldman Sachs

borrows $1 billion

from the Federal

Reserve.

MARCH 19

Marriott’s

business has now

plunged 75%.

CRUDE CALCULUS

Will the U.S. cooperate with

Saudi Arabia and Russia

to cut oil production?

B

SALES SURGE

Internal documents show a

drastic shift in shopping by

Walmart customers.

B

WHATTODO

Tips for surviving in a

bear market can come

from some unlikely places.

B

TAX BREAKS

Working remotely can

provide tax benefits...for

employers, not employees.

B

HIDDEN HEROES

In this pandemic,

it’s the deputies we need,

not the alphas.

B

‘PEAK FEAR’

Stocks fall as unemployment

shoots higher. ‘Some of the

worst data is yet to come.’

B

INSIDE

MARCH 3| The Fed announces an emergency rate cut.

MARCH 10| A near-empty Starbucks in Beijing.

MARCH 12| Broadway

shows are shut down.

Workers bottle hand sanitizer as demand surges.

MARCH 16|Aviewofa
shuttered Disneyland.

A restaurant worker with a

to-go order in Georgia.

A closed beach in Miami
Beach, Fla.

Light traffic on New York’s

FDR Drive

MARCH 20| The Canadian

border closed to most traffic.

National Guard soldiers

package food.

MARCH 24

Chevron decides

to cut $4 billion

from its budget,

a 20% reduction.

MARCH 28| An Amazon

worker delivers in Maryland.

Social distancing in

Frankfurt.

ERIC BARADAT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; UTRECHT ROBIN/ABACA/ZUMA PRESS; MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP; SERGIO FLORES/REUTERS; EZRA SHAW/GETTY IMAGES; KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES; SARAH BLESENER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; CAYCE CLIFFORD FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; JEFF GRITCHEN/ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER/ZUMA PRESS; VICTOR J. BLUE/GETTY IMAGES; ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG NEWS; JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/AP; DUSTIN CHAMBERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES; DAVID BECKER/ZUMA PRESS; LARS HAGBERG/AFP/GETTY IM-
AGES; ANGELA WEISS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP; JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; ALYSSA SCHUKAR FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL; ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK; ANGELA WEISS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

MARCH 12|NomoreNBA
basketball in San Francisco.

MARCH 17| A closed AMC

theaterinNewYork.

Washington, D.C.,’s Federal Reserve building.

MARCH 17| Shoppers line up outside a Costco in Florida.

MARCH 17| Las Vegas
casinos are ordered closed.

‘Covid-19 is like nothing we have ever seen before,’ said

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson.

MARCH 16| Trading on Wall Street is halted immediately after the opening bell.
Peter Tuchman, the trader pictured, later tested positive for coronavirus.

MARCH 30| The USNS Comfort medical ship moves up the Hudson River.

MARCH 20| Shelves at a
Washington, D.C., market.

MARCH 31| United cancels

more than 70% of its flights.

MARCH 4| President Trump meets with airline CEOs.

BUSINESS|FINANCE|TECHNOLOGY|MANAGEMENT

DJIA21052.53g360.91 1.7% NASDAQ7373.08g1.5% STOXX 600309.06g1.0% 10-YR. TREAS.À12/32 , yield 0.587% OIL$28.34À$3.02 GOLD$1,633.70À$8.00 EURO$1.0800 YEN108.

In the Netherlands, a patient

is tested for coronavirus.

MARCH 6| Austin’s SXSW

festival is canceled.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. *** Saturday/Sunday, April 4 - 5, 2020 |B

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