Financial Times Europe 18Mar2020

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Briefing

iFed throws lifeline to US companies

The US central bank has said it will begin buying

commercial paper through a facility last invoked

during the 2008 financial crisis as it seeks to ensure

companies do not face a cash crunch.— PAGE 2

iAmazon puts block on non-essentials

The ecommerce group has blocked shipments to US

and European warehouses of all items other than

essentials and medical supplies, causing fears

among the companies that depend on it.— PAGE 13

iRussian drive to aggravate crisis in west

An internal EU report has warned that pro-Kremlin

media have mounted a “significant disinformation

campaign” to destroy confidence in the emergency

response to the coronavirus pandemic.— PAGE 2

iChesapeake calls for help with debt pile

The US shale energy pioneer

has hired law firm Kirkland &

Ellis and financial advisers

Rothschild & Co to help

manage its $9bn debt pile

during the global crisis.— PAGE 16

iTrump pushed to ensure health supplies

Members of Congress have called on the Trump

administration to guarantee supplies of protective

equipment, hours after the president told governors

they should rely on the private market.— PAGE 4

iFake news sites profit from Google ads

A report has found that leading disinformation

websites in Europe, including those peddling fake

news of the coronavirus outbreak, are profiting

from ads placed by the internet group.— PAGE 14

iShort selling bans seek to restore calm

France, Italy, Spain and Belgium have imposed

temporary bans, of varying duration, on betting

against the prices of a range of shares in an attempt

to calm the region’s rocky markets.— PAGE 19

Datawatch

WEDNESDAY18 MARCH 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE

World Markets

STOCK MARKETS

Mar 17 prev %chg

S&P 500 2506.86 2386.13 5.

Nasdaq Composite 7280.50 6904.59 5.

Dow Jones Ind 20933.90 20188.52 3.

FTSEurofirst 300 1143.67 1114.61 2.

Euro Stoxx 50 2525.65 2450.37 3.

FTSE 100 5294.90 5151.08 2.

FTSE All-Share 2894.32 2848.87 1.

CAC 40 3991.78 3881.46 2.

Xetra Dax 8939.10 8742.25 2.

Nikkei 17011.53 17002.04 0.

Hang Seng 23263.73 23063.57 0.

MSCI World $ 1702.79 1881.64 -9.

MSCI EM $ 833.18 891.19 -6.

MSCI ACWI $ 409.88 451.09 -9.

CURRENCIES

Mar 17 prev

$ per € 1.097 1.

$ per £ 1.201 1.

£ per € 0.914 0.

¥ per $ 107.385105.

¥ per £ 128.980129.

SFr per € 1.058 1.

€ per $ 0.911 0.

Mar 17 prev

£ per $ 0.833 0.

€ per £ 1.095 1.

¥ per € 117.823117.

£ index 76.025 77.

SFr per £ 1.159 1.

COMMODITIES

Mar 17 prev %chg

Oil WTI $ 28.25 28.70 -1.

Oil Brent $ 29.53 30.05 -1.

Gold $ 1487.70 1562.80 -4.

INTEREST RATES

price yield chg

US Gov 10 yr 0.89 0.

UK Gov 10 yr 0.56 0.

Ger Gov 10 yr 104.57 -0.44 0.

Jpn Gov 10 yr 0.00 0.

US Gov 30 yr 132.82 1.46 0.

Ger Gov 2 yr 105.95 -0.86 0.

price prev chg

Fed Funds Eff 1.58 1.55 0.

US 3m Bills 0.24 0.28 -0.

Euro Libor 3m -0.42 -0.43 0.

UK 3m 0.49 0.51 -0.

Prices are latest for edition Data provided by Morningstar

DONATO PAOLO MANCINI AND

CLIVE COOKSON— LONDON

An infection control experiment that

was rolled out in a small Italian com-

munity at the start of Europe’s corona-

virus crisis has stopped the spread of

new diseases in the town at the centre

of the country’s outbreak.

Through testing and retesting of all

3,300 inhabitants of the town of Vò, near

Venice, regardless of whether they were

exhibiting symptoms, and rigorous

quarantining of their contacts once

infection was confirmed, health author-

ities have been able to stop the spread of

the illness there.

Andrea Crisanti, an infections expert

at Imperial College London taking part

in the Vò project while on sabbatical at

the University of Padua, urged countries

limiting virus testing, which includes

the UK and US, to learn lessons and

ramp up the numbers of people being

screened.

“In the UK, there are a whole lot of

infections that are completely ignored,”

Prof Crisanti said. “We were able to con-

tain the outbreak [in Vò] because we

identified and eliminated the ‘sub-

merged’ infections and isolated them.

That is what makes the difference.”

The success underscores the impor-

tance of testing and isolating otherwise

healthy carriers, an approach strongly

endorsed by the World Health Organi-

zation. The WHO this week urged all

countries to test aggressively, noting

thatSouth Korea and Taiwanwere suc-

cessful in limiting infections by doing so.

“Our key message is: test, test, test,”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO

chief, said on Monday.

Prof Crisanti said the unusual testing

experiment in Vò allowed researchers to

obtain a full “epidemiological picture”

of the disease.

The testing began as a scrambled con-

tingency measure after Italy’s first

virus-related death in Vò on February

22.The first testing round, carried out

on the town’s entire population in late

February, found 3 per cent of the popu-

lation infected, though half the carriers

had no symptoms. After isolating all

those infected, the second testing round

10 days later showed the infection rate

had dropped to 0.3 per cent.

Rather than extensive testing, coun-

tries including the UK and the Nether-

lands had been pursuing a “herd immu-

nity” strategy, which involved allowing

more people to catch the virus and

develop immunity, as a way of building

up resistance, though these policies are

changing as the crisis intensifies.

Experiment in Italian town to ‘test,

test, test’ cuts new infections to zero

© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2020

No: 40,351★

Printed in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin,

Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, New York, Chicago, San

Francisco, Orlando, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore,

Seoul, Dubai, Doha

AnalysisiPAGE 4

Scarce hospital beds test

US and British planning

Austria €3.90 Malta €3.
Bahrain Din1.8 Morocco Dh
Belgium €3.90 Netherlands €3.
Bulgaria Lev7.50 Norway NKr
Croatia Kn29 Oman OR1.
Cyprus €3.70 Pakistan Rupee
Czech Rep Kc105 Poland Zl 20
Denmark DKr38 Portugal €3.
Egypt E£45 Qatar QR
Finland €4.70 Romania Ron
France €3.90 Russia €5.
Germany €3.90 Serbia NewD
Gibraltar £2.90 Slovak Rep €3.
Greece €3.70 Slovenia €3.
Hungary Ft1200 Spain €3.
India Rup220 Sweden SKr
Italy €3.70 Switzerland SFr6.
Latvia €6.99 Tunisia Din7.
Lithuania €4.30 Turkey TL
Luxembourg €3.90 UAE Dh20.
North Macedonia Den

Italy has moved to

suspend mortgage

payments as part

of its response to

the coronavirus

crisis, in a push to

aid the financially

vulnerable.

Debt-to-income

ratios are well over

100 per cent in

most developed

nations and some

bust 200 per cent

Loan relief

Mortgages as  of household debt

 

Portugal

Spain

France

Ireland

UK

Italy

US

Germany

Austria

Source: OECD 

Coronavirus: the

economic cure

3 Martin Wolf launches FT series on remedies for global economy—PAGE 11

3 Buyout groups eye opportunities for $2.5tn war chest—PAGE 15

3 Redeploy idle airline staff to fight crisis—IZABELLA KAMINSKA, PAGE 11

FT REPORTERS

Western governments have mounted a

multi-trillion dollar fightback to limit

the economic fallout from the corona-

virus pandemic, with Donald Trump’s

White House even proposing to send a

cheque to every American.

The sudden White House shift to

more aggressive economic action

against the outbreak was made as Brit-

ain, France, Germany and Spain began

to use theirbalance sheets to prop up

business activity and protect household

incomes.

World leaders have torn up the eco-

nomic playbookin response to the his-

toric jolt to the global economy.A senior

US official said the Trump administra-

tion would ask Congressfor a new stim-

ulus package worth up to$850bn. Mr

Trump’s aides initially dismissed cash

payments to Americans as “helicopter

money from the sky” but the president

said he had been persuaded of the need

for an immediate infusion of money for

struggling families.

“It’s going to be big and it’s going to be

bold,” Mr Trump said.

Britain unveiled a £330bn package of

emergency loan guarantees to business

and £20bn of fiscal support. Rishi

Sunak, the UK chancellor, said: “This is

not a time for ideology or orthodoxy,

this is a time to be bold.”

Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minis-

ter, also triggered the “biggest mobilisa-

tion of resources in Spain’s democratic

history” to fight the economic crisis,

which included €100bn of state loan

guarantees. France intervened with a

€45bn rescue package, pledging an

array of possible measures, including

nationalising companies.

“I will not hesitate to use all the means

available to me,” said Bruno Le Maire,

the French finance minister.

Francewill also guarantee €300bn of

bank loans to businesses to ensure they

do not collapse for want of liquidity.

Eurozone members collectively offered

€1tn in such national guarantees.

Restrictions to limit the spread of

coronavirus have forced the closure of

schools, bars, restaurants and manufac-

turing plants on five continents.

Demand has collapsed for airlines and

hospitality, while large manufacturers

have begun to suspend production.

The main trade body for the airline

industry called for up to $200bn in

emergency support to weather thecrisis

and prevent mass bankruptcy within

two months.Marriott International, the

hotels group,saidtens of thousands of

its staff would be put on unpaid leave.

Volkswagen,Daimler,FordandNis-

sanall halted work at plantsin a second

wave ofclosuresthat almost brought

Europe’s once buoyant car industry to a

standstill. US unionshave called for a

two-week shutdown ofFord,General

MotorsandFiat Chryslerplants.

Markets reactedpositively to the

interventions, which included theFed

entering thecommercial paper market

and providing an extra $500bn to sup-

portovernight lending.The S&P 500,

which on Monday suffered its biggest

one-day fall since 1987, rose4 per cent.

Western nations open the taps

in multi-trillion virus fightback

3 $850bn US boost sought 3 Europeans unveil rescue measures 3 Drive to limit damage

3 Virus reports

Pages 2-

3 Editorial

Comment

Page 10

3 Opinion

Page 11

3 LexPage 12

3 Tail Risk

Page 13

3 Airlines &

Corporate

fallout

Pages 14-

3 Markets

Pages 21 & 22

Inside

Controls at the Polish

border cause a 40km

jam on the A4 near

Bautzen in Germany

Robert Michael/dpa via AP

MARCH 18 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 17/3/2020-18:59 User:julian.summers Page Name:1FRONT USA, Part,Page,Edition:EUR, 1 , 1