Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-04-20)

4

INBRIEF

Bloomberg Businessweek By Benedikt Kammel

○ Global cases

of coronavirus

reached 2 million.

The number has

doubled since

April 2.

The U.S. has the biggest number of

deaths, at more than 24,000. Still,

President Trump is eager to reopen

the economy from its weekslong

shutdown. In the meantime,

unemployment has approached 15%.

Thetechnologyis designed to curb

thespreadofthevirusbyurging

userstoquarantineorisolate

themselvesaftercontactwith an

infectedindividual.Someprivacy and

cybersecurityexpertsworry the tool

willbevulnerabletoabuse.

○ The OPEC+ alliance

agreed on an historic deal to

cut oil production by

9.7m

barrels a day to stem

the slump in prices and

demand. The biggest-ever

intervention in the crude

market followed days of

tense negotiations among

member states, conducted

via videoconference.

○ Pope Francis delivered a blessing on Easter Monday to an empty square in front

of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, a venue typically filled with as many as 100,

pilgrims when the pontiff speaks from the window of his papal apartment.

○ SoftBank forecast a

record operating loss of

$12.5b

for the fiscal year that

just ended. The Japanese

bank has been hurt by

bad bets on startups such

as WeWork, the once-

high-flying office-sharing

company, and satellite

operator OneWeb, which

filed for bankruptcy

in March.

○ Afterdroppingout

ofthepresidential

race,BernieSanders

endorsedJoeBiden

asthepresumptive

Democraticcandidate.

In a videomessage to

hisloyalsupporters,the

Vermontsenatorvowed

todo“allthatI ’’

todefeatTrum

in November.

BarackObama

alsoendorsed

Biden,who

servedashis

vice president.

○ JPMorganset

aside$8.29billion

forbadloans,the

biggestprovision

thebankhas

madein atleast

adecade.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded U.K. health authorities for saving

his life after he was hospitalized and put into intensive care with a coronavirus

infection. He was discharged on April 12, after a week.

○ “For 48 hours,

things could

have gone

either way.”

○ Appleand

Googleunveiled a

rarepartnership

tocreatea

Covid-19contact-

tracingsystem for

smartphones.

○ Turkeyagreedto

temporarilyreleasetens

ofthousandsofinmates

toreducetheriskofviral

outbreaksin prisons.Their

allottedtimeoutsidewill

rangefroma littlemore

thana monthtoaslong

asfouryears,depending

ontimeservedand

othercircumstances.

can’’

mp

a

○ Flower wholesalers in the

Netherlands destroyed

140m

tulip stems because

demand for fresh-cut

flowers has collapsed

around the world.  52

Bank of America allocated

$4.76 billion for loan losses, also

the most since 2010.