The Wall Street Journal - 12.03.2020

B10| Thursday, March 12, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Net YTD
Fund NAV Chg % Ret
American Century Inv
Ultra 47.18 -2.30 -9.5
American Funds Cl A
AmcpA p 29.03 -1.34 -13.5
AMutlA p 37.25 -1.48 -14.4
BalA p 26.13 -0.85 -8.3
BondA p 13.54 -0.06 3.8
CapIBA p 55.94 -1.78 -11.7
CapWGrA 43.96 -2.06 -15.9
EupacA p 46.13 -2.07 -17.1
FdInvA p 52.07 -2.74 -16.0
GwthA p 45.08 -2.10 -11.8
HI TrA p 9.27 -0.14 -7.0
ICAA p 33.25 -1.45 -16.0
IncoA p 20.45 -0.71 -12.0
N PerA p 40.57 -2.08 -14.2
NEcoA p 40.24 -2.03 -12.0
NwWrldA 59.62 -2.61 -15.5
SmCpA p 49.14 -2.60 -16.5
TxExA p 13.45 -0.19 1.4
WshA p 40.18 -2.03 -16.6
Baird Funds
AggBdInst 11.55 -0.05 3.4
CorBdInst 11.82 -0.07 2.7
BlackRock Funds

HiYldBd Inst 7.27 ... -5.5 BlackRock Funds A GlblAlloc p 18.02 ... -6.2 BlackRock Funds Inst EqtyDivd 16.69 -0.78 -20.1 MultiAstIncome10.49 ... -3.7 StratIncOpptyIns 9.89 ... -0.3 Bridge Builder Trust CoreBond 10.71 -0.06 3.3 CorePlusBond10.36 -0.07 2.4 Intl Eq 9.87 -0.44 -17.7 LargeCapValue11.02 -0.62 -19.6 Del Invest Instl Value 17.30 -0.99 -22.8 Dimensional Fds 5GlbFxdInc 10.82 ... 0.8 DFARlEst 36.44 -2.36 -10.9 EmgMktVa 22.49 -0.73 -21.6 EmMktCorEq 17.92 -0.69 -17.7 IntlCoreEq 10.79 -0.51 -21.9 IntSmCo 14.52 -0.68 -23.2 IntSmVa 14.35 -0.63 -25.8 LgCo 21.10 -1.08 -14.9 TAUSCoreEq216.22 -0.91 -19.6 US CoreEq1 21.07 -1.16 -18.7

Net YTD Fund NAV Chg % Ret US CoreEq2 18.99 -1.07 -19.8 US Small 25.71 -1.66 -26.6 US SmCpVal 23.37 -1.55 -32.1 US TgdVal 15.83 -1.09 -31.7 USLgVa 29.15 -1.67 -24.6 Dodge & Cox Balanced 84.59 -3.45 -16.7 Income 14.16 -0.08 0.9 Intl Stk 33.08 -1.36 -24.1 Stock 146.36 -8.68 -24.5 DoubleLine Funds CoreFxdIncmI NA ... NA TotRetBdI NA ... NA Edgewood Growth Instituti EdgewoodGrInst34.89 -1.88 -9.4 Fidelity 500IdxInstPrem95.41 -4.89 -14.8 Contrafund K612.98 -0.61 -10.3 ExtMktIdxInstPre51.58 -3.42 -20.8 IntlIdxInstPrem34.90 -1.57 -18.8 MidCpInxInstPrem19.12 -1.15 -19.1 SAIUSLgCpIndxFd14.71 -0.76 -14.9 SmCpIdxInstPrem15.97 -1.09 -24.1 TMktIdxInstPrem76.28 -4.08 -15.8 USBdIdxInstPrem12.27 -0.07 3.5

Net YTD Fund NAV Chg % Ret

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Top 250 mutual-funds listings for Nasdaq-published share classes by net assets. e-Ex-distribution.f-Previous day’s quotation.g-Footnotes x and s apply.j-Footnotes e and s apply.k-Recalculated by Lipper, using updated data.p-Distribution costs apply, 12b-1.r- Redemption charge may apply.s-Stock split or dividend.t-Footnotes p and r apply.v-Footnotes x and e apply.x-Ex-dividend.z-Footnote x, e and s apply.NA-Not available due to incomplete price, performance or cost data.NE-Not released by Lipper; data under review.NN-Fund not tracked.NS-Fund didn’t exist at start of period.

Mutual Funds

Fidelity Advisor I NwInsghtI 28.38 -1.42 -13.2 Fidelity Freedom FF2020 14.80 -0.39 -8.7 FF2025 12.90 -0.38 -9.9 FF2030 15.75 -0.53 -11.7 Freedom2020 K14.79 -0.38 -8.7 Freedom2025 K12.88 -0.38 -9.9 Freedom2030 K15.74 -0.52 -11.6 Freedom2035 K12.92 -0.50 -14.3 Freedom2040 K 8.93 -0.38 -15.6 Fidelity Invest Balanc 22.10 -0.84 -10.2 BluCh 96.68 -5.02 -10.3 Contra 12.23 -0.57 -10.2 ContraK 12.24 -0.58 -10.3 CpInc r 9.10 -0.21 -10.6 GroCo 19.25 -1.02 -9.9 GrowCoK 19.29 -1.02 -9.8 InvGrBd 11.72 -0.10 1.8 LowP r 39.78 -1.76 -20.5 Magin 9.25 -0.43 -9.3 OTC 11.48 -0.57 -10.2 Puritn 20.92 -0.71 -8.0 SrsEmrgMkt 17.35 -0.76 -15.9 SrsGlobal 10.79 -0.47 -18.1 SrsGroCoRetail16.04 -0.85 -9.6 SrsIntlGrw 15.12 -0.68 -13.7 SrsIntlVal 7.66 -0.37 -22.6 TotalBond 10.99 -0.09 1.3 Fidelity SAI TotalBd 10.55 -0.09 1.0 First Eagle Funds GlbA 49.04 -1.84 -15.4 FPA Funds FPACres 29.30 -0.97 -13.4 Franklin A1 CA TF A1 p 7.72 -0.16 1.5 IncomeA1 p NA ... NA

FrankTemp/Frank Adv IncomeAdv NA ... NA FrankTemp/Franklin A Growth A p NA ... NA RisDv A p NA ... NA FrankTemp/Franklin C Income C t NA ... NA FrankTemp/Temp Adv GlBondAdv p NA ... NA Guggenheim Funds Tru TotRtnBdFdClInst28.34 -0.10 4.9 Harbor Funds CapApInst 68.77 -3.69 -9.2 Harding Loevner IntlEq NA ... NA Invesco Funds A EqIncA 8.70 -0.31 -15.5 Invesco Funds Y DevMktY 38.57 -1.55 -15.4 JPMorgan I Class EqInc NA ... NA JPMorgan R Class CoreBond NA ... NA CorePlusBd NA ... NA Lord Abbett A ShtDurIncmA p 4.17 -0.01 -0.4 Lord Abbett F ShtDurIncm 4.17 -0.01 -0.3 Lord Abbett I ShtDurInc p 4.17 -0.01 -0.3 Metropolitan West TotRetBdI NA ... NA TRBdPlan NA ... NA MFS Funds Class I ValueI 36.65 -1.93 -18.0 MFS Funds Instl IntlEq 23.31 -1.06 -16.3 Nuveen Cl I HYMunBd 17.99 -0.41 0.9

Oakmark Funds Invest OakmrkInt NA ... NA Old Westbury Fds LrgCpStr 12.80 -0.60 -15.1 Parnassus Fds ParnEqFd NA ... NA PGIM Funds Cl Z TotalReturnBond NA ... NA PIMCO Fds Instl AllAsset NA ... NA TotRt 10.66 -0.05 3.7 PIMCO Funds A IncomeFd NA ... NA PIMCO Funds I2 Income NA ... NA PIMCO Funds Instl IncomeFd NA ... NA Price Funds BlChip NA ... NA DivGro NA ... NA EqInc NA ... NA EqIndex NA ... NA Growth NA ... NA HelSci NA ... NA InstlCapG NA ... NA IntlStk NA ... NA MidCap 79.38 -4.42 -16.7 N Inc NA ... NA NHoriz NA ... NA OverS SF r NA ... NA R2020 NA ... NA R2025 NA ... NA R2030 NA ... NA R2035 NA ... NA R2040 NA ... NA Value NA ... NA PRIMECAP Odyssey Fds AggGrowth r 36.81 -2.17 -18.0

Growth r 32.90 -1.86 -19.6 Stock r 27.26 -1.45 -21.0 Putnam Funds Class A StDurInc 10.04 ... 0.2 Schwab Funds 1000 Inv r 60.34 -3.18 -15.2 S&P Sel 42.07 -2.15 -14.8 TSM Sel r 47.12 -2.52 -15.8 TIAA/CREF Funds BdIdxInst 11.46 -0.06 3.6 VANGUARD ADMIRAL 500Adml 252.74-12.95 -14.8 BalAdml 36.02 -1.24 -8.2 CAITAdml 12.18 -0.16 1.2 CapOpAdml r131.27 -6.81 -16.8 DivAppIdxAdm29.57 -1.56 -12.6 EMAdmr 31.23 -1.10 -15.5 EqIncAdml 65.46 -3.29 -17.7 ExplrAdml 77.39 -5.10 -20.4 ExtndAdml 75.79 -5.01 -20.7 GNMAAdml 10.62 -0.03 1.1 GrwthAdml 84.60 -4.21 -9.8 HlthCareAdml r79.33 -3.14 -9.6 HYCorAdml r 5.62 -0.05 -4.8 InfProAd 26.11 -0.31 0.9 IntlGrAdml 89.79 -4.27 -12.6 ITBondAdml 12.25 -0.08 4.2 ITIGradeAdml10.24 -0.06 2.4 LTGradeAdml 11.52 -0.26 5.9 MidCpAdml 179.40-10.37 -18.3 MuHYAdml 11.81 -0.18 1.2 MuIntAdml 14.59 -0.19 1.3 MuLTAdml 12.05 -0.18 1.8 MuLtdAdml 11.12 -0.07 0.7 MuShtAdml 15.87 -0.04 0.4 PrmcpAdml r119.91 -5.93 -16.8 RealEstatAdml115.12 -7.63 -11.8 SmCapAdml 61.19 -4.20 -22.6 SmGthAdml 56.48 -3.71 -19.0

STBondAdml 10.76 -0.01 2.2 STIGradeAdml10.79 -0.03 1.1 TotBdAdml 11.40 -0.07 3.7 TotIntBdIdxAdm23.26 -0.03 3.0 TotIntlAdmIdx r24.36 -1.04 -18.4 TotStAdml 67.17 -3.60 -15.7 TxMCapAdml141.41 -7.40 -14.8 TxMIn r 11.42 -0.52 -19.2 USGroAdml 101.79 -5.20 -8.6 ValAdml 37.75 -2.02 -19.3 WdsrllAdml 52.29 -2.96 -19.1 WellsIAdml 63.30 -1.52 -4.4 WelltnAdml 67.53 -2.40 -9.9 WndsrAdml 55.66 -3.07 -23.0 VANGUARD FDS DivdGro 26.85 -1.23 -12.1 INSTTRF202022.33 -0.59 -7.4 INSTTRF202522.48 -0.70 -9.1 INSTTRF203022.46 -0.78 -10.6 INSTTRF203522.42 -0.85 -12.1 INSTTRF204022.39 -0.92 -13.5 INSTTRF204522.29 -0.99 -14.9 INSTTRF205022.33 -0.99 -14.8 IntlVal 29.81 -1.32 -20.6 LifeCon 19.98 -0.44 -5.0 LifeGro 31.45 -1.26 -13.0 LifeMod 26.26 -0.81 -9.0 PrmcpCor 22.67 -1.15 -18.8 STAR 24.68 -0.88 -9.7 TgtRe2015 14.46 -0.29 -4.7 TgtRe2020 30.12 -0.80 -7.4 TgtRe2025 18.04 -0.56 -9.1 TgtRe2030 32.60 -1.12 -10.6 TgtRe2035 19.81 -0.75 -12.0 TgtRe2040 33.85 -1.39 -13.5 TgtRe2045 21.04 -0.93 -14.8 TgtRe2050 33.87 -1.50 -14.8 TgtRet2055 36.78 -1.62 -14.8

TgtRetInc 13.55 -0.23 -3.6 TotIntBdIxInv 11.64 -0.01 3.1 WellsI 26.13 -0.62 -4.4 Welltn 39.10 -1.39 -9.9 WndsrII 29.47 -1.67 -19.1 VANGUARD INDEX FDS MdCpVlAdml 47.58 -3.00 -22.4 SmValAdml 43.68 -3.11 -25.5 TotBd2 11.36 -0.07 3.7 TotIntl 14.56 -0.62 -18.5 TotSt 67.14 -3.59 -15.7 VANGUARD INSTL FDS BalInst 36.02 -1.25 -8.2 DevMktsIndInst11.44 -0.51 -19.2 DevMktsInxInst17.87 -0.82 -19.2 ExtndInst 75.79 -5.01 -20.7 GrwthInst 84.60 -4.22 -9.9 InPrSeIn 10.64 -0.12 0.9 InstIdx 247.17-12.68 -14.8 InstPlus 247.19-12.68 -14.8 InstTStPlus 57.87 -3.10 -15.7 MidCpInst 39.63 -2.29 -18.3 MidCpIstPl 195.45-11.29 -18.3 RealEstaInstl 17.82 -1.18 -11.8 SmCapInst 61.19 -4.20 -22.6 STIGradeInst 10.79 -0.03 1.1 STIPSIxins 24.58 -0.06 -0.5 TotBdInst 11.40 -0.07 3.7 TotBdInst2 11.36 -0.07 3.7 TotBdInstPl 11.40 -0.07 3.7 TotIntBdIdxInst34.91 -0.04 3.0 TotIntlInstIdx r97.41 -4.17 -18.5 TotItlInstPlId r97.43 -4.18 -18.5 TotStInst 67.18 -3.60 -15.7 ValueInst 37.75 -2.02 -19.3 WCM Focus Funds WCMFocIntlGrwIns16.48 -0.82 -12.9 Western Asset CorePlusBdI NA ... NA

Net YTD Fund NAV Chg % Ret

Net YTD Data provided by Fund NAV Chg % Ret

Italy’s coronavirus lockdown
has the global luxury-goods in-
dustry straining to keep facto-
ries open in the country while
adopting precautionary mea-
sures to fight the spread of the
disease in its ranks.
The makers of luxury
goods—from industry giants
like LVMH Moët Hennessy
Louis VuittonSE andPrada
SpA to smaller ateliers with
global markets—are providing
workers with protective gear,
closing workplace cafeterias and
warning employees to keep
their distance from each other.
The Italian government order,
issued Monday night, has
barred travel and public gather-
ings across the nation, but it
contains an exception to allow
business activity to continue.
While the initial outbreak in
China took a big bite out of de-
mand for luxury products, the
disease’s spread to Italy is now
testing its ability to make many
of those items. The luxury busi-
ness is one of the few indus-
tries in recent years that has
boosted its production in Italy,
drawing on the country’s mys-
tique and heritage as a key sell-
ing point.
Telling staff to simply work
from home or avoid physical

“As a result of taking these actions the company will, where necessary, make tempo- rary closures of its plants across Italy,” Fiat Chrysler said. A spokesman said the company’s full-year production schedule in Italy isn’t yet im- pacted by the plant shutdowns because it was rescheduling planned downtime for now. Fiat Chrysler has factories across Italy, including several in the northwest part of the country, which has been hardest hit by the virus. Since last month, the company has asked most office- based employees to work from

home. It says all administra- tive work has proceeded as normal. Fiat Chrysler makes Jeep, Fiat, Maserati and Alfa Romeo branded vehicles in Italy. The main Jeep factory is in the south, where the virus is still relatively contained, while the other three brands are made in factories in the northwest near the company’s Italian headquarters in Turin. The Jeep Renegade is the highest-volume model ex- ported from Italy to the U.S., though sales of the compact sport-utility vehicle fell 21% in the U.S. last year. The coronavirus is also now

hurting Italian production at Pirelli, where an employee at the tire maker’s factory in Set- timo Torinese near Turin has tested positive, the company said late Tuesday. Pirelli said production at the factory has been slowed so it can function with a limited number of employees pres- ent, and that it expects there to be a “progressive recovery” of production in the coming days. Available stock will be used to supply clients “with a suit- able level of service,” Pirelli said. —Nora Naughton contributed to this article.

MILAN—Italy’s coronavirus
outbreak, the world’s worst
outside China, has started to
hit the country’s big manufac-
turers, withFiat Chrysler Au-
tomobilesNV andPirelliSpA
saying they will lower produc-
tion as the epidemic advances.
Fiat Chrysler on Wednesday
said it would boost efforts in
its Italian factories to contain
the spread of the virus, in-
cluding intensive sanitization
of work and rest areas, chang-
ing rooms and washrooms.
Daily production will be re-
duced as part of the new pro-
cesses.

BYERICSYLVERS

Fiat, Pirelli Slow Output in Containment Effort

BANKING & FINANCE

California this year sought
to banish high-cost lenders. Op-
pLoans was undeterred.

A new state law this year
capped interest rates—cur-
rently at about 37% a year—for
some consumer loans. But Op-
pLoans is charging 160% on a
typical loan in California, ac-
cording to its website, using a
partnership with a Utah bank
to continue selling in the state
despite the new rules.
OppLoans isn’t the only
lender charging triple-digit
rates in California. The Wall
Street Journal ran 25 online
searches in February within the
state for loans for a financially
stressed borrower. The top re-
sults included several compa-
nies pitching consumer loans
with rates over 100% to borrow-
ers browsing from California.
OppLoans and its partner,
FinWise Bank, are in what is
called a rent-a-bank partner-
ship, which allows high-cost
lenders to skirt interest-rate
caps in dozens of states. Rent-
a-bank arrangements are the
focus of a fierce battle pitting
state regulators and consumer
advocates against the credit
industry.

Here’s how they typically work: A lender such as Op- pLoans helps identify borrowers to whom it wants to lend at rates above what their states permit. It makes a deal with a bank in another state, where such rates are allowed, to put up the money. Then the bank sells much of the loan to the lender or a company connected to the lender. The companies “are inten- tionally finding ways to evade state law,” Monique Limón, a Democratic California lawmaker who introduced the new legislation, said in an interview. She added that OppLoans and others lending above the interest-rate cap appeared to be breaking California law, and she hopes state regulators will take enforcement action. A spokesman for Chicago- based Opportunity Financial LLC, also known as OppLoans, said the company “is not inten- tionally evading or breaking state law.” OppLoans “provides outsourced services to...banks to help them provide loans to credit-challenged Americans,” he said. FinWise Bank said it is an “active participant” in its partnerships with loan companies, and its underwriting takes into account borrowers’ ability to repay the debt.

The lenders are tapping into a large consumer population that remains shut out of bank lending. Most big banks have limited appetite to extend credit to consumers with low credit scores. Roughly 38 million U.S. consumers have subprime credit scores below 600, according to FICO. The companies say the banks are the lenders and therefore the laws that apply are those of the state where the loan was originated, not the laws of the borrower’s state.

The National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit group, said last month it was seeing an “alarming explosion of blatant high-cost rent-a-bank schemes.” In testimony to a congressional hearing on rent- a-banks, the group called the arrangements the “biggest threat in decades to states’ his- toric power to prevent predatory lending.” OppLoans partners with Fin- Wise Bank, which is based in Utah, where there is no interest-rate cap, to sell loans in 24

states and the District of Co- lumbia. The cap in the district is 24%, but the typical rate on a loan sold there by OppLoans and FinWise is 160%, according to OppLoans’ website. More states are adding caps on interest rates in response to a recent surge in high-interest lending. New loan-rate caps were passed in South Dakota in 2016 and in Colorado in 2018. Rent-a-banks cropped up more than 15 years ago, but dwindled following a clamp- down by bank regulators. After the financial crisis, some high- cost lenders instead formed partnerships with Native Amer- ican tribes, which said their sovereign immunity shielded the loans from state laws. But a number of courts questioned the legality of such “rent-a- tribe” arrangements. Publicly traded Elevate Credit Inc. uses a rent-a-bank model that sends loan repay- ments from struggling borrowers in Nebraska to a Caribbean tax haven. Elevate’s Rise loans in 18 states and D.C. are originated by FinWise, according to Ele- vate securities filings. The bank then sells a 96% interest in the loans to a Cayman Islands spe- cial-purpose vehicle called EF SPV Ltd., which is counted as part of Elevate for accounting

purposes. This offshore company borrows to fund the loan purchases, paying a rate at end-2019 of just over 10%, com- pared with the 99% to 149% it collects on the typical Rise loan, the filings show. Elevate said in a statement that it licenses technology to banks, helping them “serve the 160 million non-prime and credit invisible Americans with transparent and responsible credit options, which are far superior to predatory payday loans.” Consumer advocates and others are pressing federal banking regulators to take enforcement action against rent- a-banks, as they did in the 2000s. “A few banks are making [state consumer] protections moot...[and] regulators haven’t stopped them,” said Alex Horo- witz, a senior research officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit organization that has studied subprime lending. The Federal Deposit Insur- ance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Cur- rency have allowed the lending to continue while they consult on rules affecting online lending. They say the proposed rules will help consumers, by clarifying the applicable laws, rather than boost rent-a-banks.

‘Rent-a-Bank’ Deals Skirt Usury Laws

California lawmaker Monique Limón fought for the cap on rates.

RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ByJean Eaglesham, AnnaMaria Andriotis andCoulter Jones

contact is difficult in an industry whose beating heart is the workshop where dozens of artisans collaborate, often in close quarters. Shutting that production would be a blow to the Ital- ian economy. Luxury-goods companies employ tens of thousands of people and are among the country’s biggest exporters. “On the production side, re- mote working is not possible, so it’s a question of managing risk by reducing contact be- tween people,” says Matteo

Lunelli, chairman of Altag- amma, which represents Italy’s luxury industry. “It should be possible to find a solution to protect the flow of goods and at the same time the health of the people.” Big firms like Franco-Italian EssilorLuxottica SA, which makes eyeglasses for luxury brands like Persol and Bulgari, as well as Oakley and Ray-Ban, continue to operate their factories in Italy. Louis Vuitton, owned by LVMH, has kept open

its global shoe factory in the Venice region, site of one of It- aly’s biggest disease clusters. Pelletteria Graziella, a leather-goods supplier near Venice, has taken a host of steps to keep the virus out of its factory as it continues production. Now, the workshop’s 50 artisans wear masks while they work. Each worker’s tem- perature is taken at the start of the day. Truck drivers making deliveries aren’t allowed to get out of their vehicles.

BYMATTHEWDALTON

Italy Lockdown Jolts Luxury Goods

Businesses are giving workers protective gear. Pelletteria Graziella’s leather workshop near Venice.

PELLETTERIA GRAZIELLA

businesses to get back to work. However, the authorities re- scinded the order within hours. In fact, “strict traffic control and personnel control” remained in force, they said. Hubei is one of China’s main logistical hubs, as well as an important base for several heavy industries. The centrally located region is home to roughly a tenth of the country’s car-producing capacity. The auto sector is desperate to crank up production and get customers back into dealer- ships after an unprecedented slump in sales. Passenger-car sales fell 78.5% last month on year, according to the China Passenger Car Association; and while 70% of auto companies had restarted by the end of February, they were operating at 20% of production capacity. Among the hardest hit is Dongfeng MotorCorp., one of China’s biggest state-run auto makers, which is based in Wu- han. It operates several of its own factories in the area as well as local joint-venture plants with Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., Peugeot SA and Re- nault SA. General Motors Co. also operates a plant in Wuhan with its partner, SAIC Motor Corp. of Shanghai. All three of Honda’s joint- venture car plants with Dong- feng are in Wuhan. Honda said Wednesday that it had started to allow some employees to return to its plants in Wuhan, and that it had begun small- scale production. An engineer who works for Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co. in Wuhan, where he has been under lockdown in his apartment since Jan. 23, said local authorities gave Dongfeng Honda and some key suppliers permission to restart production Monday. But thousands of workers remain stranded outside Hubei, and with mass-tran- sit networks still closed, many workers who are in Wuhan can’t travel to the factories, he said. —Yin Yijun contributed to this article.

Most factories in China’s Hubei province won’t be allowed to resume operations through March 20, the provincial government said, dealing a delay to businesses in the region at the center of the coronavirus epidemic struggling to return to normal. However, companies that perform essential tasks such as producing food can resume work immediately if they haven’t already done so, the authorities said Wednesday, as can firms “that have a signifi- cant impact on supporting the national and global industrial chain,” provided they have the necessary approvals. That might include some of the nu- merous auto plants in and around Wuhan, the provincial capital, which play a critical role in the regional economy. Earlier, authorities had said companies in the region could restart business on Wednesday. But most car plants and other factories in Hubei, which stopped operations for the Lu- nar New Year holiday in late January, continued to sit idle. The delay highlighted the complexity of rebooting supply chains and getting thousands of workers back onto factory floors, despite progress in checking the spread of the coronavirus in China. On Tuesday, Chinese Presi- dent Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first time since the outbreak began in late 2019, sig- naling the government believes it has brought the crisis under control. The city is now report- ing only a handful of new cases daily, down from nearly 2,000 a month ago. Some 67,000 of China’s 80,000 cases occurred in Hubei. But some regional efforts to restore normality have stum- bled. On Wednesday, Qianjiang, a city 100 miles west of Wuhan, said that it was reopening public transport systems and allowing private vehicles back onto the city’s roads, while encouraging

BYTREFORMOSS

China’s Idled Factories

Face Reopening Delay

The Wall Street Journal - 12.03.2020

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