The Wall Street Journal - 16.03.2020

B2| Monday, March 16, 2020 ***** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

borders to international arrivals.

India has imposed restrictions

on new tourist visas. Travel re-

strictions are in place in Ukraine,

Russia, Turkey, Taiwan, Den-

mark and the Czech Republic.

In the U.S., with cancella-

tions outpacing new bookings,

Delta Air Lines Inc., said Friday

it would slash capacity by 40%

and cancel nearly all flights to

continental Europe. “The speed

of the demand falloff is unlike

anything we’ve seen—and we’ve

seen a lot in our business,”

Chief Executive Ed Bastian

wrote in a letter to employees.

American said Saturday it

would cut international flying

by 75% until early May, and

will cut domestic flying capac-

ity by 20% in April and 30% in

May on a year-over-year basis.

—Doug Cameron

contributed to this article.

lion ($669 million) in recent

weeks. The group said its

bookings are down 50%, and it

is in the process of reducing

its flights by up to 70% from

the pre-coronavirus schedule.

Lufthansa also is in talks with

European governments to get

financial assistance, it said.

In an example of how

quickly and abruptly the situa-

tion can change, British bud-

get airline Jet2 said Saturday

it would suspend flying to

Spain in response to local

measures that closed bars,

shops, and restaurants to stem

the spread of the virus. As

many as seven Jet2 flights

bound for Spain turned around

midflight Saturday, according

to tracking firm Flightradar24.

Other countries also are

clamping down on travel. Poland

and Kuwait are shutting their

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A

Abercrombie & Fitch...B1
Airbus..........................B3
Alphabet......................B4
Amazon.com..........B2,B4
Apache.........................B9
Apple..............A8, B1, B4

B

Bank of America.........R5
BlackRock....................R5
Blue Origin..................A3
Boeing.........................A3
Box...............................B4
Bytedance....................B4

C

Chevron.......................B9
Comcast.......................B5
Custom Wealth
Solutions...................R5
D

Delta Air Lines...........R8
Deutsche Bank............R5
Deutsche Lufthansa...R8
Diamondback Energy..B9
Drägerwerk.................B5

E-J

easyJet........................R8

Exxon Mobil................B9

Facebook......................B4

Fidelity Investments..R6

J.C. Bamford Excavators

B5

JetBlue Airways.........R8

K-L

Koninklijke Ahold

Delhaize....................B2

Koninklijke Philips......B5

Kroger..........................B1

Lions Gate

Entertainment..........B5

Lululemon Athletica...B1

M-P

Marathon Oil...............B9

Medtronic....................B5

Morgan Stanley

Investment

Management.............B3

Nike........................B1,B2

Occidental Petroleum.B9

Pathway Vet Alliance.B3

Publix...........................B1

R-T

Rolls-Royce Holdings..B5

Sabin Wealth

Management Group of

Wells Fargo Advisors

R5

Saudi Arabian Oil.......B9

Sony.............................B5

Space Exploration

Technologies.............A3

Sysco...........................B1

Target..........................B1

Thornburg Investment

Management.............R6

TSG Consumer Partners

B3

Twitter........................B1

24G..............................A8

Tyson Foods................B1

U-Y

Under Armour.............B1

United Airlines Holdings

R8

Urban Outfitters.........B1

Vanguard Group.....R5,R6

Walmart......................B1

Walt Disney................B5

WisdomTree

Investments............B10

Y

Yelp..............................B4

INDEX TO PEOPLE

cluding those fromWalmart
Inc., Target Corp., Costco
Wholesale Corp.,SyscoCorp.
andTyson FoodsInc.
KrogerCo. Chief Executive
Rodney McMullen wrote in a
memo to employees on Sunday
that a worker in Colorado and
another in Washington tested
positive for Covid-19, the respi-
ratory disease caused by the vi-
rus. He said the stores would
remain open and that the na-
tion’s largest supermarket chain
would give paid time off to
workers diagnosed with
Covid-19 and those placed un-
der mandatory quarantine.
“Our stores, facilities, plants
and offices are busier than ever
before,” Mr. McMullen wrote.
Kroger and Trader Joe's said
they were shortening store
hours to give workers more
time to clean and restock.
Publix Super Markets Inc.,
which operates more than 1,100
stores, on Saturday said it
would shorten store and phar-
macy hours to close at 8 p.m.
Walmart Inc. said its U.S. stores
would close overnight to clean
and disinfect surfaces.
Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
said it would shorten hours,
trim options at its hot-food
bars and set purchase limits for
foods including eggs, frozen
vegetables, boxed cereal and
rice.
Some retailers added secu-
rity in their stores. Target said
it has increased off-duty police
presence in some outlets and
Costco said it is adding addi-
tional security at a handful of
locations.
The Washington State De-
partment of Health urged con-
sumers not to overstock.
Food companies had been
preparing for greater demand,
but the surge was higher and
faster than expected, executives
said.

Continued from page B1

B
Babin, Rebecca............B1
Barak, Mitchell.........A10
C
Cornell, Brian..............B1
Corpus, Lonnie............A6
D
Dorsey, Jack................B1
F
Faury, Guillaume.........B3
Fleeman, JJ.................B2
H

Hancock, Matt............B5
Horowitz, Fran............B2

I

Icahn, Carl...................B9

K

Kerlekowske, Gil.........A6

Kung, Darwei..............B9

L

Lieberman, Avigdor..A10

M

Mayor, Regina.............B9

McGillian, Gene...........B9

O

P

Parkhill, Karen............B5

Pritzker, J.B...........A6,A7

R

Ross, Gary...................B9

S

Sabin, Bruce................R5

Schabacker, Marcus....B5

T

Thummel, Rob.............B9

W

Windle, Mike...............R5

Y

Yawger, Robert...........B9

Z

Zandi, Mark................A6

“We don’t know how to an-

ticipate for that,” said Susan

Morris, chief operating officer

at Albertsons Cos., the nation’s

second-largest grocer.

She said the company spent

the past two weeks adding ex-

tra stock at its more than 2,200

stores. But “you get to a point

in time where products are sim-

ply not available.”

Albertsons said it is carrying

less variety of goods to speed

up the restocking process.

Some of the supermarkets

run by Koninklijke Ahold

DelhaizeNV, owner of the Stop

& Shop and Food Lion chains,

were running low on bottled

water, cheese and other items

last week.

JJ Fleeman, president of

Peapod, the online-delivery

business for Ahold, said it

expected demand for some

items to be several times higher

than usual, but the surge this

past week was several times

higher than that. “We’re liter-

ally making adjustments in the

moment,” Mr. Fleeman said.

Peapod said it is adding driv-

ers and warehouse workers and

installing more computer serv-

ers to handle orders faster. Its

website briefly crashed in some

parts of the country on Friday

while those upgrades were tak-

ing place.

Executives say they are con-

fident near term they can meet

demand, especially now that

many households have “pantry

loaded.” Longer term they are

trying to make adjustments in

case of deeper threats to the

supply chain.

In the U.K., where online de-

liveries make up about 7.7% of

the grocery market according to

research firm Kantar, more than

double the share in the U.S., re-

tailers have also warned their

services could be stretched as

the pandemic advances.

Early Sunday, in a joint letter

published in British newspa-

pers, the country’s largest su-

permarkets asked shoppers to

“be considerate in the way they

shop” and stop buying more

than needed. “There is enough

for everyone if we all work to-

gether,” the letter said.

—Alex Leary

contributed to this article.

Grocers

Fall Behind

Demand

Stocking Up

Onlinegroceryandmeal-kitordershaverisenasthe
coronaviruspandemichasspread.

Weekly sales growth, change from a year earlier

Source: Earnest Research

Note: Weeks from Tuesday through Monday

Walmart

online

grocery

Instacart

FreshDirect

Jan.7 14 21 28 Feb.4 11 18 25

0

15

30

45

60

75%

Markets

Brace for

Turmoil

sures follow moves by Denmark

and Norway to impose restric-

tions on travel into each country.

SAS rival Norwegian Air

Shuttle ASA, a budget carrier

with popular flights between

Europe and the U.S., said last

week it would furlough about

50% of its 11,500 employees,

and called for additional gov-

ernment support as it tries to

shore up its liquidity. The an-

nouncement by Norwegian had

preceded the travel restric-

tions put in place by the na-

tional government.

British Airways PLC on Fri-

day sent a memo to staff ti-

tled, “the survival of British

Airways,” outlining plans to

ground aircraft and lay off em-

ployees. Deutsche Lufthansa

AG is scrambling to raise more

cash, including by selling

planes, after raising €600 mil-

All Abercrombie & Fitch store

associates will continue to be

paid.

Starbucks Corp. said it

would close some stores in

high-traffic areas such as malls

and university campuses that

have emptied out as a result of

the coronavirus pandemic,

along with closing or reducing

hours in some locations in New

York and Seattle.

The world’s largest coffee

chain also said that it would

only fill to-go orders at its

thousands of stores in the U.S.

and Canada for at least two

weeks.

“These are truly uncharted

times,” said Rossann Williams,

president of the U.S. company-

operated business and Canada,

in a letter to employees.

stores and websites to buy

household goods.

U.S. grocers aren’t keeping

up with customers who are

emptying their shelves.Ama-

zon.comInc.’s Prime Now ser-

vice warned it had limited

availability and delivery op-

tions for some items because of

demand.

At the same time, there is less

urgency to buy clothing or non-

essential items.

Analysts said most chains

could endure a two-week shut-

down but prolonged closures or

a drop in store visits would

strain mall-based stores and

department stores. Some cau-

tioned e-commerce sales are

unlikely to fill the void, since

many retailers get 75% of their

revenue from their stores.

“We see mall traffic down

over 50%-75% over the coming

weeks and don’t anticipate much

transfer to online purchases as

consumers are currently too

worried about finding toilet pa-

per in the supermarket,” analysts

at Jefferies wrote in a research

note.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

said Sunday it will close all of

its stores in North America and

the European, Middle East and

Africa regions. The stores will

remain closed until March 28.

Continued from page B1

Some Stores

Close for

Time Being

particular, no different than

after 9/11, has a very unique

circumstance,” Mr. Mnuchin

said Saturday.

U.S. tourists have rushed to

airports in Copenhagen, Paris

and Barcelona, trying to get

home after new travel restric-

tions have been announced.

Airlines don’t have the man-

power to handle the volume of

calls they are getting from

anxious customers trying to

rebook or cancel trips. They

have asked people not to call

in to change flights unless

they have scheduled travel

within 72 hours. Some custom-

ers have said they spent hours

on hold waiting for assistance.

“There’s unprecedented call

volume, possibly the highest

we’ve ever seen,” said a

spokesman for American Air-

lines Group Inc.

In Europe, where the airline

industry has been hardest hit

by recent travel bans by the

U.S. and European govern-

ments, carriers continued to

reel. Scandinavian airline SAS

AB said Sunday it was halting

most of its traffic and tempo-

rarily reducing its workforce

by 10,000 people.

The carrier said demand for

international travel is “essen-

tially nonexistent” amid the out-

break, adding that it will halt

most operations on Monday. Re-

maining traffic will be to help

passengers get home. The mea-

Continued from page B1

Airlines

Face Dire

Situation

the three-month rolling corre-

lations between bonds and the

S&P 500, using weekly total re-

turns—price gains plus periodic

payments such as dividends.

As of March 3, roughly half-

way through the current selloff

period, the correlation was mi-

nus 0.84, according to Goldman

Sachs Group Inc. data. That

was the lowest since January

2015, indicating a near-perfect

match between stock rallies

and bond selloffs, and vice

versa. Correlations range from

minus 1 to 1, with minus 1

meaning two things move op-

posite and 1 meaning they

move in lockstep.

But the inverse moves ha-

ven’t been automatic in the

past week, and the rolling cor-

relation rose to minus 0.64

Thursday. Traders and inves-

tors said much of the Treasury

selloff was driven by balance-

sheet concerns at banks that

sold Treasurys instead of risk-

Continued from page B1

ier debt whose prices had

fallen more, while others cited

the unwind of some hedge-fund

trades made with borrowed

money.

Even so, the disruption of

one of the most closely

watched relationships in all of

markets helped to further dent

sentiment, some portfolio man-

agers said.

At the same time, many in-

vestors are taking heart at the

exceptional actions by the Fed

and the growing awareness in

other parts of government that

the coronavirus pandemic and

related economic and markets

challenges require immediate

attention.

Some traders add that the

scale of the selloff may offer

some opportunity for the bold

to purchase securities at lower

prices, taking advantage of

both the growing public anxiety

over the virus outbreak and the

apparent malfunction of crucial

parts of the financial markets.

The Dow industrials are

down more than 21% from its

highs last month, and much of

the selloff has seemed so head-

long that it couldn’t help but be

overdone, some investors said.

After the S&P 500 peaked Feb.

19, the broad stock index, the

MSCI AC World ex USA stock

index, the S&P GSCI commodity

index and the benchmark Trea-

sury yield all declined for seven

consecutive trading days—the

first such streak in data going

back to May 1995, according to

Dow Jones Market Data.

While earnings estimates

have begun to fall and the Or-

ganization for Economic Coop-

eration and Development pre-

dicted global economic growth

will slow sharply as govern-

ments try to fight the virus, the

scale of the setback is unclear.

Three-month rolling correlation between weekly total return of

S&P 500 and 10-year U.S. government bond



–



2  5 ’ 6 ’ 7 ’ 8 ’ ’ 2 

Samedirection

Opposite

U.S.

STOCKS

COMMOD-

ITIES

TREASURY

10-Y

YIELD

WORLD

STOCKS

Feb.19

March13

ButaselloffinTreasurys

beganTuesday,pushing

yieldsup.

AftertheS&P500peaked

Feb.19,stocks,commodities

andbondyieldsalldeclined

forsevenconsecutive

tradingdays.

Daily moves

Sources: Datastream, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. (correlation index);

Dow Jones Market Data (daily moves)

Up Down

New restrictions on travel to the U.S. from the U.K. and Ireland could remove an additional million seats.

THIBAULT CAMUS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Can’t hear dialogue on TV? Our AccuVoice®AV200 Speaker uses

patented hearing aid technology to lift voices out of background

sounds. With two levels of voice boost, dialogue is super-clear, even

at low volumes. Only 17" wide, it fits anywhere. Hookup is simple –

one connecting cord. CNET says “Great for people who have

trouble hearing TV.” 60-day money-back guarantee.

60-Day Home Trial | Free Shipping | amazon.com | zvox.com

Great Sound. Made Simple.

866-367-9869

® ZVOX & AccuVoice are registered trademarks of ZVOX Audio.

The AccuVoice®Speaker uses patented

hearing aid technology to make

TV voices clear–even at low volumes.

ORDER AT ZVOX.COM OR AMAZON

Bluetooth Noise Cancelling Headphones

• AccuVoice technology for clear voices.


• Reduces outside noises electronicallly.


• Four designer colors..........SALE $99.99 Save $50


• Over 300,000 AccuVoice speakers sold!


• Over 2500 4.5-Star Amazon reviews.


• 60-Day Home Trial - Free Shipping.

The AccuVoice®Speaker uses patented

“Finally I can hear

dialog on shows...

without closed

captioning!”

• Amazon review of AccuVoice Speaker

$

179

99

SAVE $20

NOTICEOFDEFERRALUNTIL

LATERDATE

INTERNATIONALPUBLIC

COMPETITIONNo.20200001

ORIGINALFROMSETUR

The Secretariat of the Civil House

makespublicthepostponementuntila

later date of International Public

Competition No. 20200001 of interest

to the Secretariat of Tourism, whose

object is the execution of restoration

work on Highway Ce-341, Section:

Paracuru-entr.Br-222(Croatá),witha

length of 28.57 km, according to

specifications contained in the Public

NoticeanditsAnnexes.

REASON: For adjustments in the

PublicNotice.

On,11/03/2020

MariaBetâniaSaboiaCosta

VICECHAIRMANOFTHECCC

BUSINESS & FINANCE

NY