This archive report was first published on 20 April 2020.
Stocks Begin the Week on a Down Note ¶
Asian stocks were mixed on Monday, as news of the coronavirus outbreak's relentless spread overcame signs of progress in some of the hardest-hit countries.
Shares in Japan were down 1.1 percent, failing to carry over a big stock rally in the United States on Friday. Futures markets were sending mixed messages, suggesting a positive opening for Europe but a mild slump on Wall Street.
The United States appeared to make progress in stabilizing its response, with lawmakers nearing a deal for a new support package for small businesses and President Trump announcing plans to step up testing.
However, protests in some states against lockdowns underscored the economic damage falling on many households, both in the United States and around the world.
Prices for U.S. Treasury bonds rose, suggesting investors were putting their money in safer havens. Oil prices whipsawed, as futures contracts expired at a time of weakening demand for oil.
In other markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 0.2 percent higher, while shares in mainland China rose 0.3 percent after authorities extended interest rate cuts to more parts of the economy.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.2 percent, and in Australia, the S&P/AS 200 index was down 1.2 percent.
As the pandemic continues to spread, Amazon is aggressively moving to capitalize on a newly captive market of millions of families unable or unwilling to shop normally.
However, resistance to Amazon's dominance is beginning to coalesce, with labor organizations, immigrant groups, and anti-monopoly activists working together to restrain the company.
“If you relentlessly squeeze workers and suppliers, if you undermine every community's local businesses, if you capture all of this surplus under the guise of efficiency and channel those gains to a small number of people, you end up with a system that is very vulnerable,” said Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
The coronavirus pandemic has also united Americans in deep pessimism about the economy, with a recent poll by The New York Times and SurveyMonkey revealing widespread concerns about the future.
Highly paid or less so, black or white, investors in the stock market or not, Americans largely expect a poor or mixed performance from the economy in the coming year and prolonged damage over the next five years.
Those groups also roundly support the stringent limits on economic activity that state and local officials have imposed to slow the spread of the virus and minimize its death toll.
