Good morning. Don’t even think of leaving the house.
Britain is in lockdown(£) as the prime minister tells all office workers to stay at home(£), and the over 70s to avoid all human contact.
Businesses are asking for more help(£) as the restrictions will devastate entire sectors(£).
Meanwhile the leisure sector(£) has accused Boris Johnson of a “callous attitude”, saying the lack of a formal ban(£) has left them “in limbo”.
The FTSE 100 has hit an eight-year low, while Wall Street has suffered its biggest fall since Black Monday in 1987(£). Panic selling has accelerated despite calming measures by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks.
But futures have risen by 3.8%(£) amid hopes of a stimulus package.
Still, US growth will shrink by 5% in Q2(£), having flatlined in Q1, says Goldman Sachs.
On this side of the Atlantic, new Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey has pledged to protect the economy(£), saying more action will be taken when needed.
And most of the world’s airlines will be bankrupt(£) within ten weeks.
Labour has called for evictions to be banned while the crisis continues. (We assume they are not referring to the contestants locked in Germany’s Big Brother house, who still have no idea the coronavirus pandemic is happening.)
Countrywide saw its share price more than halve yesterday, after LSL Property Services called time on talkover talks(£). The firm’s value has dropped from £111m when takeover talks began in late February to just £25m.
Serviced operator IWG’s share price fell by more than a third.
Primark has shut the doors to a fifth of its stores(£) as restrictions across Europe make trading impossible.
Debenhams is asking landlords for yet another rent holiday, this time for five months.
Colliers International’s head of business rates has called for an immediate three-month deferral of the tax. John Webber said: “It is ridiculous that such large amounts of cash are being paid to the public purse when it could be used to safeguard jobs over the coming months.”
And in China, former property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang(£) has gone missing, after calling president Xi Jinping a “clown” over his handling of the pandemic.
Aside from the Covid-19 crisis, there is some other news.
Three private equity firms have moved to the second round of bidding for Asda, valuing the supermarket at over £7bn(£).
Laura Ashley is asking for more money(£), just a month after saying it had sufficient funds.
And Halfords plans to shut 23(£) of its bicycle stores.
Now that the government is paying attention to the OxCam Arc, we must not let it languish again, writes UK Regeneration’s Jackie Sadek.
Planning applications for clean energy projects hit a record high in 2019.
And King Felipe of Spain has said that he won’t take a single cent(£) from his dad, Juan Carlos, as allegations of the former king’s corruption mount.
And finally, as Europe’s most famous distillers and perfume makers switch to pumping out hand sanitising gel(£), Amazon can barely keep up with demand. For everything. The online retail giant has said it will hire an extra 100,000 staff(£) and raise hourly wages to keep deliveries flowing to the millions of self-isolators, which includes its own office workers. But not its warehouse workers or delivery drivers. They must brave the virus. That’s what the extra £2 in the pay packet is for.
