The Wall Street Journal - 04.03.2020

** WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXV NO. 52 WSJ.com HHHH$4.

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U.S. cities.

A decade of growth in the

U.S. economy allowed cities

to patch fiscal holes left by

the financial crisis and re-

cession. A surprising number

now see signs of trouble.

The proportion of Ameri-

can cities expecting general-

fund revenue to drop more

than 3% when the books

close on the 2019 fiscal year

increased to 27% from 17% in

fiscal 2018, when adjusted

for inflation. That is one of

the findings from a Wall

Street Journal analysis of

data collected from 478 U.S.

municipalities by the Na-

tional League of Cities, an

advocacy group.

The total general-fund

revenue reported by these

cities—locales that span the

Please turn to page A

HARVEY, Ill.—Christopher

Clark was elected mayor last

year, pledging to cut busi-

ness taxes and lower water

bills. They were popular

goals that seemed in reach

given that city revenues had

been rising almost every

year since the recession.

On taking office, Mr. Clark

figured out the city’s prog-

ress had stalled. Property tax

collections were down, and

businesses were cutting jobs.

A fall in city revenue, cou-

pled with growing debt pay-

ments, meant there would be

no relief from business taxes

or water bills.

“We just have to figure

out ways to do more with

less,” Mr. Clark said, a man-

tra surfacing in dozens of

BYHEATHERGILLERS

Former Vice President Joe

Biden notched a string of Super

Tuesday victories, while Sen.

Bernie Sanders won delegate-

rich California, as the pair

broke away from the field in

the race for the Democratic

presidential nomination.

The results across Super

Tuesday undercut the big-

spending strategy of former

New York City Mayor Michael

Bloomberg, who had hinged his

candidacy on performing well

in March contests. Sen. Eliza-

beth Warren’s dismal perfor-

mance ratcheted up pressure

on her to prove she still has a

viable path to the nomination

after losing her home state of

Massachusetts to Mr. Biden.

The former vice president

ByChad Day,

Julie Bykowicz

andGabriel T. Rubin

Minnesota

Resorts Are

On Thin Ice

iii

Slush forces new

ways to reach

fishing spots

BYJOEBARRETT

LAKE WINNIBIGOSHISH,

Minn.—Tyler Croaker was cut-

ting a new road for his fam-

ily’s ice-fishing resort last

week, when he felt the front of

his snowplow begin to sink

under the ice on the frozen

lake. He jammed on his brakes

and got lodged about 3 ½

miles from shore and 15 feet

to 30 feet from the bottom.

“It just broke through,” he

said of the 1-ton truck’s V-

shaped snowplow. Instead of a

deep chunk of ice, a thin layer

covered a couple of feet of

thick slush, into which the

truck’s plow sank. “It’s the

problem all over the lake.”

Please turn to page A

late endorsement this week.

Mr. Sanders won his home

state of Vermont as well as

Utah and Colorado, the Associ-

ated Press projected. Mr.

Bloomberg, who had vastly

outspent Mr. Biden in some

also won in the Southern states

of Virginia, North Carolina, Ten-

nessee, Arkansas and Alabama,

and he scored victories in Okla-

homa and Minnesota, home to

his former rival, Sen. Amy

Klobuchar, who gave him a key

Many U.S. Cities See

Downturn at Hand

Booming regions mask fiscal weakness in

places tethered to shrinking industries

funds rate to a range between

1% and 1.25% in the first rate

change in between scheduled

Fed policy meetings since the

2008 financial crisis. Stock mar-

kets fell anyway. Major market

indexes declined around 3% and

the yield on the benchmark 10-

year U.S. Treasury dipped be-

low 1% for the first time as in-

vestors sought havens.

The central bank has typi-

cally reserved such moves for

times when the economic out-

look has quickly darkened, as

in early 2001 and early 2008,

when the U.S. economy was

heading into recession.

Recession risks have risen

enough to “warrant a Federal

Reserve shock-and-awe ap-

proach,” said Tiffany Wilding,

an economist at Pacific Invest-

ment Management Co.

The market’s moves Tues-

day showed the extent to

which investors worry the

central bank can’t on its own

prevent a drop-off in confi-

dence and spending without a

commanding response from

public-health authorities and

other government agencies.

The rate cut was approved

unanimously by the Fed’s rate-

setting committee, which met

by videoconference on Monday

night. In a statement, officials

held out the prospect of addi-

tional stimulus by pledging to

“act as appropriate” to sup-

port the economy.

Fed officials moved to pre-

vent a pullback in credit avail-

ability to households and busi-

nesses that could amplify any

slowdown in U.S. growth, es-

pecially if steps to mitigate the

spread of the virus—school

and business closures, can-

celed public events and

changed social behavior,

broadly speaking—curtail

spending and depress hiring.

“The virus and measures

being taken to contain it will

weigh on economic activity

Please turn to page A

WASHINGTON—The Federal

Reserve executed an emergency

half-percentage-point rate cut

and markets slid, reflecting

fears the coronavirus epidemic

is raising recession risks for

the U.S. and global economies.

The Fed reduced the federal-

BYNICKTIMIRAOS

Tornadoes ripped through

Tennessee on Tuesday, killing

at least 25 people as the twist-

ers carved a path through sce-

nic mountain communities and

razed venues in a trendy Nash-

ville neighborhood.

A line of storms began bar-

reling across Tennessee on

Monday, spawning three torna-

does in the middle part of the

state while many residents

slept, according to the National

Weather Service. They

smashed homes and businesses

and left tens of thousands of

residents without power.

Gov. Bill Lee said 19 of the

deaths, including some chil-

dren, took place in Putnam

County, about 80 miles east of

Nashville and home to parks

and waterfalls.

Putnam County Mayor

Randy Porter said one possible

reason so many people died is

that the tornado struck sud-

denly in the middle of the night

when people were asleep and

might not have heard warning

sirens and cellphone alerts.

“It hit so fast,” Mr. Porter

said. “A lot of folks didn’t have

time to take shelter.”

The remainder of the deaths

were in the counties of Wilson,

Benton and Davidson, home to

Nashville. One twister cut

through Nashville, hitting

neighborhoods including Ger-

mantown, an affluent area with

upscale apartments and restau-

rants, and East Nashville, a sec-

tion with popular bars and mu-

sic spots.

“It is heartbreaking. We

have had loss of life all across

the state,” Mr. Lee said. “We’re

doing everything that we can

to respond to this.”

Emergency officials an-

swered more than 400 calls

and transported about 160 peo-

ple to hospitals, said Nashville

Fire Chief William Swann. At

least 48 buildings were de-

Please turn to page A

BYARIANCAMPO-FLORES

ANDJENNIFERCALFAS

Tennessee

Twisters

Kill at

Least 25

Shaky Ground

 Move sparks frenzy of

trading................................. B

 Greg Ip: Fiscal policy, not

Fed, is best remedy........ A

 Countries struggle over

testing................................. A

Fed Cuts Rates Amid Virus Fears

Stocks, bond yields fall

after central bank takes

biggest emergency

action since ’08 crisis

Former Vice President Joe Biden took the stage in Los Angeles after wins in a string of Super Tuesday primary contests.

states only to lose to him, won

the territory of American Sa-

moa, according to the AP. He

appeared likely to pick up

much smaller numbers of Dem-

ocratic convention delegates

than the other two candidates.

The other big delegate prize

of the night, Texas, remained

too close to call early Wednes-

day morning. While Mr. Sanders

was declared the winner in Cali-

fornia shortly after polls closed,

the final allocation of the Golden

State’s 415 pledged delegates

might not be decided for days

because of the large number of

mail-in ballots. Delegates are

distributed on a proportional

basis at the district and state

level, but the share awarded de-

Please turn to page A

Biden Picks Up String of Victories,

Sanders Logs Big Win in California

 Bloomberg assesses bid for

nomination.................................. A

 For the latest election results,

go to WSJ.com

Sen. Bernie Sanders was cheered Tuesday night in Vermont.

JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

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CONTENTS

Business News...... B

Capital Account.... A

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........ A7-

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What’s

News

Biden notcheda string of

Super Tuesday primary vic-

tories and Sanders won del-

egate-rich California as the

two candidates broke away

from the field in the race for

the Democratic presiden-

tial nomination.A1, A4-A

The first deaths linked

to the coronavirus in the

U.S. happened last week,

days earlier than previously

known. Meanwhile, coun-

tries are diverging on the

question of who should be

tested for the virus.A6-A

The administrationis

considering using a national

disaster program to pay hos-

pitals and doctors for their

care of uninsured people

infected with the virus.A

Tornadoes tore through

Tennessee, killing at least

25 people, smashing homes

and businesses and leaving

tens of thousands of resi-

dents without power.A

The Supreme Courtindi-

cated it may curtail the in-

dependence of the CFPB but

showed little inclination to

eliminate the agency.A

A 5-4 high court ruling

boosted the ability of states to

prosecute undocumented im-

migrants for identity theft.A

Netanyahu retaineda lead

in Israel’s parliamentary elec-

tions but was on track to fall

short of the majority he needs

to form a government.A

Iran has nearly tripled

its stockpile of enriched

uranium since early No-

vember, the IAEA said.A

A trio of senatorsagain

pushed for information about

Google’s data tie-up with

health giant Ascension.A

T

he Fed executedan

emergency half-percent-

age-point rate cut and mar-

kets slid, reflecting worries

that the coronavirus epi-

demic is raising recession

risks. Major U.S. stock in-

dexes fell around 3%. The

yield on the 10-year U.S. Trea-

sury briefly dropped below 1%

for the first time.A1, B1, B

The SEC is investigating

sales and accounting prac-

tices at Newell, the con-

sumer-products firm said.B

Target, Kohl’sand other

retailers that posted lacklus-

ter holiday results now face

uncertainty stemming from

the coronavirus outbreak.B

Hudson’s Bay CEOHelena

Foulkes is leaving the Saks

Fifth Avenue parent follow-

ing its deal to go private.B

Nordstrom namedErik

Nordstrom as its sole chief,

ending an unusual shared

management structure.B

Thermo Fisher agreed

to pay about $10.1 billion

to acquire molecular-diag-

nostics company Qiagen.B

The Supreme Courtindi-

cated it may be inclined to

rein in how courts and regu-

lators order wrongdoers to

return money gained through

illegal investment schemes.B

An outage that hitpop-

ular online brokerage Rob-

inhood onMonday extended

into part of Tuesday.B

Fidelity postedrecord an-

nual profit and revenue, aided

by market gains and its

broad reach to investors.B

Quibi saida second round

of financing brought its total

investment to $1.75 billion.B

Business&Finance

World-Wide

ALLISON ZAUCHA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL