Virus cost may top $4 trillion

Walmart limits store access; US airlines sign up for grants Virus controls ease Manufacturing in China ‘rebounds’

wants customers, just fewer of them at a time. The nation’s largest retailer said it will now allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly about 20% of the average store’s capacity. To oversee the restriction, workers will mark a queue at a single-entry door, and direct arriving customers there, where they’ll be admitted one by one. Walmart joins Target and others in trying to limit the number of customers in the store to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Toyota is halting production at five of its 18 plants in Japan as sales evaporate. The stoppage will last three days for most of the plants, but one plant will close until mid-April.

The affected plants produce vehicles for export, including Lexus luxury models and the Prius hybrid. Other Japanese automakers, such as Honda Motor Co, have also suspended production.

The US auto industry is completely shut down.

The coronavirus pandemic is even closing the taps on Corona beer – along with most other brews across Mexico.

Major breweries announced Friday they are suspending operations in response to government orders for nonessential businesses to keep their workers at home.

Grupo Modelo, maker of Corona among other popular brands, said it will suspend its operations at plants around the country by Sunday. The company pointed out in a statement that thousands of farmers depend on it buying their grain. It said it has a plan that would allow it to continue production with 75% of its workforce at home if the government decides to allow it to continue operating.

Some Mexican states have also imposed dry laws that restrict the sale of alcohol during the health crisis.

US stocks fell Friday, leaving the S&P 500 down 26.5% since its record set in February.

The losses came after the government reported that US employers cut 701,000 jobs in March, the monthly decline in nearly a decade. Because of the timing of the spread of COVID-19, the March report did not capture the extend of the damage. Economists are warning policy makers to brace for worse.

The US typically has a unique response to crisis, and the coronavirus is no different.

Firearm sales spiked 85% last month compared with the March last year, according an analysis of the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System by Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting.

The laws of supply and demand also apply to arming up, of course, and the cost of adding guns the the shopping list will cost you.

BEIJING, April 4, (AP): China’s manufacturing rebounded in March as authorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allowed factories to reopen, an official survey showed, but an industry group warned the economy has yet to fully recover.

The ruling Communist Party is trying to revive the world’s second-largest economy after declaring victory over the coronavirus even as the United States and other governments shut down businesses.

The purchasing managers’ index issued by the Chinese statistics bureau and the official China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing rose to 52 from February’s record low of 35.7 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing.

The federation and private sector economists cautioned the economy still faces challenges as manufacturers rebuild supply chains and authorities try to prevent a spike in infections as employees stream back to work.