Business

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The largest coffeehouse chain in the world, Starbucks has announced that it is closing down most of its locations in the United States and Canada for a two-week period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the exceptions being its franchises in or near hospitals that serve healthcare personnel and emergency responders. Most locations will also still offer drive-through and delivery services.

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American Airlines has decided to re-introduce cargo-only flights to its schedule, for the first time since 1987, due to shrinking operations caused by travel bans imposed internationally to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with lower consumer demand. All major US airlines have suspended international passenger flights, with Delta Airlines joining American in using passenger planes for moving cargo.

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Only a week after the Bank of England cut interest rates down to 0.25 percent, the lowest point in the bank's 325-year history, interest rates have once again been lowered to 0.1 percent, the new lowest point in the institution's history. The move comes as Treasurer Rishi Sunak met with UK's finance leadership to announce further stimulus packages to combat the rising economic panic caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

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The coronavirus pandemic has brought oil prices down by another 24% as demand for oil drops. This is also in part due to the price war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia as both countries have stopped limiting supply. This could lead to a crash in the international oil market.

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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has announced that the ECB will be printing 1 trillion EUR to help the region overcome the coronavirus crisis, with hard-hit Italy needing lower borrowing costs to fund efforts to combat the spread of the contagious infection, for which the ECB has decided to increase its spending by 1.1 trillion EUR, worth over 6 percent of the eurozone's total GDP.

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Electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, has recently instructed its Californian factory employees to come to work despite the coronavirus crisis. The local government has issued a 'shelter in place' directive, ordering all non-essential businesses to close. The county even specifically mentioned that Tesla was a non-essential business but Tesla is showing no signs of stopping.

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Following emergency bailout programs from the governments of Sweden and Denmark to support national airlines with 300 million USD in loan guarantees, Australia and Taiwan have joined the growing list of world governments who are taking measures to bail out airlines on the verge of bankruptcy due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Australia refunding and waiving charges to domestic airlines and Taiwan approving subsidies and loans for its airlines.

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Planet Fitness, one of the largest gym chains in the US, is offering free online workout classes to those who cannot leave home or go to their gym due to the coronavirus outbreak. The free workouts will be live-streamed on the company's Facebook starting March 16 and are available for both members and non-members.

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The coronavirus has led to a giant drop in the global stock market, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value. Regulators are trying desperately to control this dip as businesses are being forced to slow down. The outbreak has only gotten worse as time has gone on and it doesn't look like it will get better for some time.

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Luxury goods brand Louis Vuitton's parent firm LVMH, which also owns champagne brand Moet & Chandon, watchmaker Tag Heuer, and jewelry company Bulgari, has announced that it will shift from perfume production to hand sanitizer manufacturing due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the products being made available for free to France's health authorities.

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Amidst climbing mortgage rates and widespread economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fed has decided to make dramatic changes in its policies, cutting interest rates to zero and investing 200 billion USD in mortgage-backed bonds to stabilize the spike in mortgage prices last week, as part of a 700 billion USD financial package to ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

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US President Donald Trump has said that Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently called him to apologize and that Google has substantiated his earlier comments about a coronavirus testing website. Although Alphabet did say in an earlier statement that the site is not as Trump described, Trump has said that this statement was fake news.

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After the UK-based financially strained airline Flybe went out of business last week amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic, other UK airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have stated that the economic fallout caused by the travel restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 outbreak may drive them bankrupt unless the government provides emergency financial support. The UK government has stated that it is considering releasing emergency funds to these airlines.

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Amid the global economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco, currently the most valuable company in the world, has announced that it will miss its first profit targets as a publicly listed company. CEO Amin Nasser also stated that the company will restrict its capital spending in 2020 due to Saudi Arabia's ongoing oil price war with Russia.

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The governments of the UAE, Saudi Arabia , and Egypt have announced massive stimulus packages for their countries to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, with the UAE authorities announcing 27 billion USD to help businesses stay afloat, Saudi Arabia committing to 13 billion USD, and Egyptian President announcing 6 billion USD to combat the COVID-19 infection.

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Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese online retail giant Alibaba, has announced that he is sending a consignment of two million face masks and medical equipment to Belgium to help European governments in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The first consignment of 500,000 masks will head to Italy, with Ma also committing to provide 500,000 testing kits and a million masks for the coronavirus effort in the US.

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Nike announced on Sunday that the company is closing all of its stores in the United States along with some international stores in Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The decision will take effect from Monday but the company clarifies that some stores in South Korea, Japan, and China will remain open. Nike joins retailers like Patagonia, Apple and Urban outfitters in closing international stores.

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The US courts have been forced to slow down due to the coronavirus crisis, with high profile cases such as the billion-dollar case against Elon Musk, being put on hold. Visitors are no longer allowed in court and the backlog of cases has continued to increase. They have suspended all new jury trials.

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Apple announced that the company will shut down all stores outside greater China to avoid coronavirus outbreak. Online stores will remain open as well as the App Store. Tom Cook said that the company had learnt lessons China and to minimize the outbreak risk, people need to maximize the social distance. Apple ordered deep cleaning of all the offices and stores worldwide to avoid further health issues.

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One of the richest people on earth and Co-Founder of tech giant Microsoft, Bill Gates is stepping down from the company’s board to focus more on philanthropic activities. He has also left the board of Berkshire Hathaway as well as he wants to spend more time on global health, poverty eradication, climate change, and education. According to Forbes, the total net worth of Bill Gates is more than $100 billion

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Netflix's head office in Los Angeles may have been exposed to the coronavirus as an employee who works there looks 'likely' to have been infected. Although many employees were already working from home, around 1,000 of them are currently at varying degrees of risk. The office has now been evacuated.

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Gold, usually considered a safe haven for investors in times of economic crisis, plunged in value at the Comex in New York and continued falling to hit a one-day low of $1560.40, down by more than $80 from the previous day. 55 million ounces of gold were sold on the market as the price climbed back up beyond $1600 to decline by $70 again.

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Asian stock markets quickly followed suit as US financial markets entered bear market territory, with South Korea being forced to halt trading due to losses of over 13 percent in a single day. The S&P500 declined by 9.5 percent to mark its worst crash since 1987's infamous Black Monday, with the Dow Jones index suffering a loss of 10 percent, also the worst since 1987.

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The Walt Disney Company has announced that it is going to shut down its Disneyland resort in Anaheim, marking the popular amusement park's first closure since the 9/11 attacks and only its fourth closure in its 65-year life, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The park receives more than 19 million visitors every year and is known as The Happiest Place on Earth.

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The Dow Jones plunged by more than 1,000 points as it officially closed in a bear market, with the S&P500 sinking 4.3 percent and entering bear market territory for a period after US President Donald Trump's conference detailing the administration's plan to battle the coronavirus pandemic left investors in confusion and despair. Global markets suffered from the shock too and are nearing bear market territory.

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