Financial Times Europe 27Mar2020

SubscribeIn print and online

http://www.ft.com/subscribetoday
email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 20 7775 6000
Fax: +44 20 7873 3428

Briefing

iChina bans foreigners over virus fears

Beijing has said it will temporarily suspend visits

from almost all foreigners amid fears those

returning after the country eased its travel curbs

were sparking a second wave of virus cases.— PAGE 2

iVW urges ECB to buy commercial paper

The biggest carmaker told the FT that the central

bank should send “clear signals” and buy the paper,

short-term debt that often matures in as little as six

or nine months, “as soon as possible”.— PAGE 6

iTrump pushed to use wartime law

An act under which he can compel the manufacture

of certain goods has taken centre stage as critics

accuse Donald Trump of not doing enough in the

virus fight.— PAGE 3; EDITORIAL COMMENT, PAGE 16

iWallenberg warns of lost generation

Swedish industrialist Jacob

Wallenberg has warned that

governments risk depression

and social unrest unless they

weigh the economic threat of

the virus more heavily.— PAGE 8

iPensioners to fund Putin package

Measures introduced by the Russian president to

soften the economic blow of the coronavirus

pandemic will be partly funded by a levy on bank

deposits, tapping middle-class nest eggs.— PAGE 3

iCatalonia and Madrid clash over curbs

Abig surge of coronavirus cases in Catalonia has

increased tension between the north-eastern region

and the Spanish government, which is being pushed

to shut down almost the entire economy.— PAGE 4

iOrange juice pips other commodities

Frozen concentrated orange juice, traded in New

York, has been the best performing commodity this

year, according to Bloomberg data, rising 25 per

cent to $1.214 a pound since January.— PAGE 10

Datawatch

FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE

World Markets

STOCK MARKETS

Mar 26 prev %chg

S&P 500 2593.48 2475.56 4.

Nasdaq Composite 7675.52 7384.30 3.

Dow Jones Ind 22377.56 21200.55 5.

FTSEurofirst 300 1265.16 1235.83 2.

Euro Stoxx 50 2829.80 2800.14 1.

FTSE 100 5815.73 5688.20 2.

FTSE All-Share 3179.75 3102.98 2.

CAC 40 4543.58 4432.29 2.

Xetra Dax 10000.96 9874.26 1.

Nikkei 18664.60 19546.63 -4.

Hang Seng 23352.34 23527.19 -0.

MSCI World $ 1785.99 1742.61 2.

MSCI EM $ 836.54 801.66 4.

MSCI ACWI $ 427.57 416.27 2.

CURRENCIES

Mar 26 prev

$ per € 1.083 1.

$ per £ 1.176 1.

£ per € 0.921 0.

¥ per $ 111.435 111.

¥ per £ 131.048 131.

SFr per € 1.060 1.

€ per $ 0.923 0.

Mar 26 prev

£ per $ 0.850 0.

€ per £ 1.086 1.

¥ per € 120.712 120.

£ index 74.497 74.

SFr per £ 1.150 1.

COMMODITIES

Mar 26 prev %chg

Oil WTI $ 22.81 24.49 -6.

Oil Brent $ 26.38 27.39 -3.

Gold $ 1605.45 1605.75 -0.

INTEREST RATES

price yield chg

US Gov 10 yr 0.81 -0.

UK Gov 10 yr 0.40 -0.

Ger Gov 10 yr 102.91 -0.37 -0.

Jpn Gov 10 yr 0.00 -0.

US Gov 30 yr 130.32 1.37 0.

Ger Gov 2 yr 105.17 -0.66 -0.

price prev chg

Fed Funds Eff 1.58 1.55 0.

US 3m Bills 0.00 0.01 -0.

Euro Libor 3m -0.31 -0.32 0.

UK 3m 0.55 0.54 0.

Prices are latest for edition Data provided by Morningstar

JA M E S P I C K F O R D A N D

N I C H O L A S M E G AW— LONDON

Banks are pressing for a full suspension

of the housing market after the UK

government told buyers and sellers

to delay transactions because of the

coronavirus outbreak.

In talks between lenders and ministers,

banks have expressed concern about

the impact of the pandemic on valua-

tions. They are also concerned about

granting credit when the economy is in

freefall, according to senior bankers.

The banks have told ministers it has

become impossible to survey proper-

ties, according to people briefed on the

discussions. Bank call centres have also

been inundated with anxious home-

owners seeking mortgage holidays.

A government spokesman said buy-

ers and renters “should, as far as possi-

ble, delay moving home while emer-

gency measures are in place to fight

coronavirus. If moving is unavoidable

for contractual reasons, people must

follow advice on social distancing to

minimise the spread of the virus.”

UK Finance, the industry body, has

written to lenders saying it is seeking

“urgent clarification” over the future of

the market, “particularly as physical

property valuations are no longer possi-

ble”. A number of banks and specialist

lenders have already withdrawn new

mortgages to focus on existing custom-

ers and reduce pressure on call centres

that are low on staff.

Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays,

two of the UK’s biggest lenders, are tem-

porarily pulling many of their mort-

gages. Lloyds has stopped offering mort-

gages or remortgages through brokers

unless the customer has a deposit of at

least 40 per cent of the value of the

property.

Barclays told brokers it would no

longer offer mortgages for customers

who did not have a deposit of at least

40 per cent, but it would continue to

offer remortgaging deals. Bankers were

keen to point out that the withdrawal of

mortgage products did not signal they

were running short of financing, as hap-

pened in 2008 when markets froze.

David Hollingworth, director at bro-

ker L & C Mortgages, said lenders were

moving to cut the flow of new business

as they dealt with thousands of requests

for mortgage payment delays. “The pur-

chase market will effectively go into

cold storage,” he said. “You’re just not

able to go out and buy a house even if the

vendor wanted you to come around.”

Additional reporting by Jim Pickard and

StephenMorris

UK banks call for house sale freeze as

credit and virus fears hamper moves

©THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2020

No: 40,359★

Printed in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin,
Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Orlando, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Seoul, Dubai, Doha

AnalysisiPAGE 4

Infections ravage Italian

doctors and hospitals

Working from homeWorld leaders

on screen to discuss economy threat

Leaders of the G20 major economies hold an online summit to discuss the coronavirus crisis

yesterdayReports, Pages 2-4; Corporate impact, Pages 6-9; Markets, Pages 10-11; Big Read, Page 15;

Editorial Comment, Page 16; Opinion, Page 17; Lex, Page 18— Gary Ramage/AFP via Getty

Austria €3.90 Malta €3.
Bahrain Din1.8 Morocco Dh
Belgium €3.90 Netherlands €3.
Bulgaria Lev7.50 Norway NKr
Croatia Kn29 Oman OR1.
Cyprus €3.70 Pakistan Rupee
Czech Rep Kc105 Poland Zl 20
Denmark DKr38 Portugal €3.
Egypt E£45 Qatar QR
Finland €4.70 Romania Ron
France €3.90 Russia €5.
Germany €3.90 Serbia NewD
Gibraltar £2.90 Slovak Rep €3.
Greece €3.70 Slovenia €3.
Hungary Ft1200 Spain €3.
India Rup220 Sweden SKr
Italy €3.70 Switzerland SFr6.
Latvia €6.99 Tunisia Din7.
Lithuania €4.30 Turkey TL
Luxembourg €3.90 UAE Dh20.
North Macedonia Den

Prior to the

announcement of

an enforced

lockdown in the

UK, only half of

Britons were

following official

advice to stay at

home. About

three-quarters

are washing their

hands more

as a result of

coronavirus fears

Changing habits

 of respondents

Source: Ipsos Mori

Mar  Mar 

Washing hands

Staying at home

Working from home

Online banking

Online groceries

Using an online GP

Ordering takeaway

Wearing surgical

masks

 

B R E N DA N G R E E L E Y— WASHINGTON
M A M TA BA D K A R A N D
C O L BY S M I T H— NEW YORK

More than 3m Americans filed a claim
for unemployment benefits last week, a
record high that offers the first
nationwide picture of the damage to
the US economy from the coronavirus
shutdown.
According to data released by the
labour department yesterday, claims
rose to 3.3m for the week ending Satur-
day, from 282,000 the previous week.
The data eclipsed consensus expecta-
tions of 1.7m, showing the staggering
scale of job losses in the first full week of
claims since cities and states began to
restrict public gatherings and, in some
cases, order residents to stay home.
“Nearly every state providing com-
ments cited the Covid-19 virus impacts,”
the labour department said. Hotels and
restaurants had been hit particularly
hard, states said, as well as entertain-
ment, transportation, manufacturing,

healthcare and social assistance.

“It’s just disastrous on so many

levels,” said Torsten Slok, chief econo-

mist at Deutsche Bank Securities. The

claims data show the cost-cutting that

companies are doing already has serious

consequences, both for growth and for

the labour market, he added.

It is by far the largest single-week rise

in unemployment claims since the

department began publishing records in

1967. The previous one-week highs
      came in October 1982, at 695,000, and
      March 2009, at 665,000.
      “ T h i s i s a n i m p o s s i b l e - t o -
      comprehend number. We just wiped out
      a year-and-a-half of job growth,” said
      Martha Gimbel, an economist at
      Schmidt Futures. “The most important
      thing to remember is that this is an
      undercount of people suffering.”
      The claims data only reflect people
      able to apply for an unemployment
      insurance benefit. Others may not qual-
      ify, had hours cut or could not get into
      state systems when labour agency web-
      sites crashed. Economists at Oxford
      Economics have predicted 15m to 20m
      job losses in coming weeks.
      The US unemployment rate had been
      at 3.5 per cent prior to the outbreak, a
      half-century low. Mr Slok said this
      week’s job losses alone could add 2 per-
      centage points.
      In an interview with NBC yesterday,
      Jay Powell, chairman of the Federal
      Reserve, said the US “may well” be in
      recession already.
      Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic
      adviser at Allianz, said the jobs data
      highlighted “the ferocity of the sudden
      stop hitting the US economy”.
      “We’re living through a generation-
      defining moment,” he added.

Jobless claims

surge to 3.3m

record in US

3 First picture of coronavirus damage

3 Weekly total dwarfs 1.7m expected

Coronavirus: the

economic cure

3 Higher public debt levels should be the norm—MARIO DRAGHI, PAGE 17

3 The global hunt for a coronavirus drug—BIG READ, PAGE 15

3 Trump’s response to the pandemic is hurting the US—EDWARD LUCE, PAGE 3

US jobless claims

Initial unemployment claims

(weekly data, s)

Source: Refinitiv















    

MARCH 27 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 26/3/2020 - 19: 06 User: simon.roberts Page Name: 1FRONT USA, Part,Page,Edition: EUR, 1 , 1