The Wall Street Journal - 11.03.2020

** WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXV NO. 58 WSJ.com HHHH $4.

DJIA 25018.16À1167.14 4.9% NASDAQ 8344.25À5.0% STOXX 600 335.64g1.1% 10-YR. TREAS. g2 14/32 , yield 0.743% OIL $34.36À$3.23 GOLD $1,659.10g$15.40 EURO $1.1283 YEN 105.

BYJOEWALLACE,

AKANEOTANI ANDXIEYU

China’s Hard Line Slows Outbreak

Authorities ignored global norms for responding to epidemics; other countries weigh tactics

ington, the second-biggest dele-

gate haul of the day, were too

close to call. North Dakota and

Idaho were also holding contests.

“I want to thank Bernie Sand-

ers and his supporters for their

tireless energy and their pas-

sion,” Mr. Biden told supporters

MOSCOW—President Vladi-

mir Putin backed a constitu-

tional amendment that could

prolong his two-decade grip on

power until 2036, the clearest

indication yet that the Kremlin

leader intends to remain in

control of Russia’s future for

years to come.

After months of speculation

about Mr. Putin’s intentions, a

proposal adopted by the State

Duma, Russia’s lower house of

parliament, would allow Mr.

Putin to run again in 2024,

when his second sequential

presidential term ends and he

is currently required by the

constitution to stand down.

Tuesday’s move was the lat-

est step in a carefully choreo-

graphed process that began in

January and has involved a

change of government and

Russia’s biggest constitutional

overhaul since the end of the

Soviet Union.

If Mr. Putin stays in power

beyond 2024, he could serve as

president until the age of 83.

He would be emulating leaders

such as President Xi Jinping of

China and former President

Nursultan Nazarbayev of Ka-

zakhstan, who oversaw legisla-

tive changes that permitted

them to remain in power for

decades. It would also make

Please turn to page A

BYGEORGIKANTCHEV

Sure, Leave Your Mug in the Office Sink. No One Minds.

iii

Companies cut plastics, and dirty dish drama piles up at work

duce reusable dishware, and

food fads requiring people to

pack their own meals gain

traction. Concern about clean-

liness in general has recently

increased because of the coro-

navirus. Mr. Dyson, 23, says

people in his office have been

especially mindful about hy-

giene of late.

At some companies, em-

ployees have the option of

working from home because of

virus concerns, giving the cor-

Please turn to page A

drama” in the company’s Slack

channels, including furious

commentary as people specu-

late over the identities of the

soap-shirkers.

Memo to office workers ev-

erywhere: your colleagues are

outraged by your unwashed

coffee mug and used salad

fork, and not-so-silently

scheming over what to do

about it. While office dish bat-

tles have long raged, tensions

are being stoked as more com-

panies cut plastics and intro-

When Steve Dyson gradu-

ated from college last year and

got a job as an executive re-

cruiter, he expected business

meetings and conference calls.

He didn’t expect quite so much

talk about the office sink.

At the Washington, D.C., of-

fice where he works, around

35 people share a kitchen.

When people don’t wash their

mugs, he says, it can prompt

“Shakespearean levels of

BYTE-PINGCHEN

SPORTS

Artificial turf strikes

back, as some major

league teams switch

back from grass. A

DIRK SHADD/ZUMA PRESS

In turbulent day,

shares jump at bell,

retreat and bounce

back in last hour

to spread widely early this year. Au-

thorities at first muzzled front-line

doctors attempting to warn their peers

and the public of the deadly new virus.

Officials denied it could be transmitted

between humans. The delays allowed

infections to multiply.

Since then, Beijing has attacked it ag-

gressively. The campaign, described by

Mr. Xi as a “people’s war,” melds tech-

nology with tactics from the party’s

Please turn to page A

how best to handle infectious diseases.

This week Italy sealed itself off from

the rest of the world, placing the en-

tire nation under quarantine. South

Korea has restricted travel inside the

country and increased surveillance on

its citizens.

On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi

Jinping visited Wuhan, the city at the

center of the pandemic, for the first time

since the outbreak began, a signal that

the Communist Party sees itself as win-

ning its battle against the pathogen.

Chinese leaders were seemingly

caught off-guard when the virus began

When China’s Communist Party

locked down an entire city to fight the

outbreak of a new coronavirus there,

some global public-health officials

warned that the iron-fisted approach

ignored world-wide norms for respond-

ing to epidemics and could make

things worse.

Now, with the number of new cases

across China dwindling—and rising out-

side its borders—the nation’s hard-line

response to the pathogen is challenging

decades of conventional wisdom about

BYLIZALIN

INSIDE

in Philadelphia. “We share a

common goal and together, we’ll

defeat Donald Trump, we’ll de-

feat him together.”

Mr. Biden has presented

himself as the Democrat best

able to challenge President

Trump in general-election bat-

tlegrounds such as Pennsylva-

nia, Wisconsin and Michigan,

which was the first of those

states to weigh in on the Demo-

cratic race. His win there, by

one measure, is his most signif-

icant yet and could bolster his

argument that he should be the

party’s nominee.

With 64% of Michigan pre-

cincts reporting, Mr. Biden had

about 53% of the vote to about

38% for Mr. Sanders.

Mr. Biden was projected the

winner in Mississippi and Mis-

Please turn to page A

Joe Biden swept to victories

in the key state of Michigan

along with Missouri and Mis-

sissippi in Tuesday’s round of

presidential nominating con-

tests, building his delegate

lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders

with a coalition of African-

Americans, suburbanites and

older voters.

Opening a new phase in the

race, the former vice president

put distance between himself

and Mr. Sanders—and built upon

his momentum from wins in 10

Super Tuesday states last week.

Mr. Biden quickly sought to

unite the party after prevailing

in Michigan, which offered 125

delegates, the biggest prize of

the night. The results in Wash-

BYKENTHOMAS

ANDSABRINASIDDIQUI

Biden Takes Michigan in Series of Wins

Impact Spreads

 Illness hits 11 care sites

near Seattle...................... A

 Italians start adjusting to

lockdown............................ A

 Airlines cut flights as

bookings are canceled... B

Putin Backs

Plan to Stay

In Power

Until 2036

Former Vice President Joe Biden, with his wife, Jill, spoke in

Philadelphia after winning Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi.

pated slowdown in economic

activity due to the coronavirus

epidemic: White House offi-

cials are considering potential

measures including a payroll-

tax cut and help for hourly

wage earners, while Japan’s

government unveiled a multi-

billion-dollar plan to help

businesses that have been af-

Please turn to page A

ending an 11-year bull market

run that overcame issues rang-

ing from a global trade war to

the first-ever downgrade of

the U.S.’s credit rating.

The Dow industrials, which

at one point sat just 0.2%

away from a bear market—a

20% drop from a recent high—

closed up 1,167.14 points, or

4.9%, to 25018.16. The Nasdaq

Composite was up 393.

points, or 5%, to 8344.25.

Investors took some com-

fort from government officials’

plans to help offset an antici-

ultimately could wind up fall-

ing apart.

The S&P 500 rose 135.

points, or 4.9%, to 2882.23. At

its lowest point Tuesday, the

index was just 0.9% away from

The market opened sharply

higher, with the Dow Jones In-

dustrial Average soaring

nearly 1,000 points within the

first few minutes of the open-

ing bell. Stocks then erased

the entirety of their gains be-

fore midday, only to charge

higher again in the final hours

of trading.

To many analysts, the tur-

bulent moves of the past few

days suggest that riskier as-

sets are still in the midst of a

tenuous recovery that could

take days to fully unfold—or

Stocks soared in frenetic

trading Tuesday, wiping out

much of the losses they suf-

fered a day earlier in their

biggest selloff since the finan-

cial crisis.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, visited Wuhan on Tuesday, the city at the center of the coronavirus epidemic.

Efforts across the U.S. to

contain the spread of the new

coronavirus escalated by the

hour Tuesday as the number of

confirmed cases topped 1,

and New York state set up the

country’s first “containment

area” around one of the largest

clusters of cases.

The U.S. had 1,001 con-

firmed cases of the coronavirus

as of late Tuesday, according to

data compiled by Johns Hop-

kins University, and officials in

affected states warned that

number would rise. The na-

tion’s death toll from Covid-19,

the disease caused by the vi-

rus, rose to at least 29.

In New York, a “containment

area” in the Westchester

County suburb of New Ro-

chelle, north of New York City,

will close major gathering

places and facilities in a

roughly 3-square-mile area for

two weeks starting this week.

The county, which has 108 vi-

rus cases and many more peo-

ple in quarantine, is “probably

the largest cluster in the

United States,” Gov. Andrew

Cuomo said.

“This is unique in the

Please turn to page A

BYJENNIFERCALFAS,

Efforts

Intensify

To C u r b

Infections

 Greg Ip: Old battles impair

White House response........ A

 Making stock trades grows

more difficult.............................. B

 Heard on the Street: China’s other health

crisis isn’t fixed................................................. B

BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS

Tax Deadline

Hit by Virus

The White House is likely to

extend the April 15 tax date

over virus fears........................ A

Stocks Soar, Erasing Chunk of Loss

CONTENTS

Business News...... B

Coronavirus..... A6-7,

Crossword.............. A

Heard on Street. B

Life & Arts....... A11-

Markets.................... B

Opinion.............. A15-

Property Report... B

Sports....................... A

Technology............... B

U.S. News............. A2-

Weather................... A

World News... A10,

s2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

>

What’s

News

 Officials mobilized to

contain the spread of the

coronavirus, as New York

state moved to close public

facilities around a particu-

lar center of the outbreak,

colleges told students to

hold off on returning to

campus and the Demo-

cratic presidential hopefuls

canceled rallies. A1, A6-A

 Joe Biden swept to early

victories in Michigan, Mis-

souri and Mississippi in the

latest round of Democratic

nominating contests. A

 President Putin backed

an amendment to Russia’s

constitution that could pro-

long his two-decade grip

on power until 2036. A

 The U.S. military has

begun to draw small num-

bers of troops out of the

Middle East after conclud-

ing that the threat of repri-

sal attacks from Iran or its

proxies has subsided. A

 An appeals court ruled

that Congress can have ac-

cess to grand-jury materials

from Mueller’s investiga-

tion of Russian interference

in the 2016 election. A

 The U.S. government

needs to adopt structural

changes to confront prolif-

erating cyber threats, a gov-

ernment panel concluded. A

 Trump’s acting intelli-

gence chief, Richard

Grenell, didn’t appear be-

fore Congress for a closed

briefing on election threats

from foreign sources. A

 An Israeli court re-

jected Netanyahu’s request

to delay the start of his

corruption trial. A

U

.S. stocks soared in

frenetic trading, wiping

out much of the losses they

suffered a day earlier in the

biggest selloff since the fi-

nancial crisis. The Dow and

S&P 500 both rose 4.9% and

the Nasdaq gained 5%. A

 Liquidity in financial mar-

kets has dried up, adding

to investors’ difficulties. B

 Saudi Arabia and Russia

escalated their oil-market

war, with Riyadh set to raise

output to record levels and

Moscow saying it was ready

to pump more crude. B

 Occidental Petroleum

is slashing spending and

dividends as it responds

to a crash in oil prices. B

 Twitter’s Dorsey ,hav-

ing kept his job, now faces

unprecedented pressure to

deliver on a promise to in-

crease usage and sales. B

 Businesses are bracing

for a longer and steeper cor-

onavirus-triggered downturn

than the single-quarter event

initially anticipated. A

 Tesla said its decision

on where to build a new

U.S. automobile assembly

factory will be influenced

by state incentives. B

 Regeneron and Sanofi

are racing to launch clinical

trials exploring whether

their arthritis drug could

treat symptoms of corona-

virus infections. B

 Foresight Energy filed

for bankruptcy protection,

citing additional pressures

in the coal market. B

 DXC struck a deal to

sell its business focused on

Medicaid services to Veri-

tas Capital for $5 billion. B

Business&Finance

World-Wide

XIE HUANCHI/XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS