Our Mission is to keep our audience with an interrupted stream of selected financial information from different serious sources, with the objective to provide online tools with information about investments in the financial markets. We supply you, with the following information: Asia Markets Closing Report, Europe Markets Closing Report, Wall Street Market Closing Report, Market News, Commodities Daily Price Report, Daily Treasury Yields Report, EU/FX Daily Report.
Jul 20, 2020
DealBook: ‘Less Optimistic’ and ‘More Cautious’: Top C.E.O.s Fret as Virus Cases Rise
Many
of the nation’s business leaders are steeling themselves for a period
of prolonged economic disruption and the prospect of a slow, halting
recovery.
Credit...Back,
left to right, Greg Kahn for The New York Times, Benjamin Rasmussen for
The New York Times, Evan Vucci, via Associated Press, Erik Tanner for
The New York Times. Front, left to right, Tomohiro Ohsumi, via
Bloomberg, Jeenah Moon, via Reuters, Erik Tanner for The New York Time,
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
With
coronavirus cases around the country on the rise and states rolling
back their reopening plans, many of the nation's top business leaders
are steeling themselves for a period of prolonged economic disruption
and the prospect of a slow, halting recovery.
“I’m less optimistic
today than I was 30 days ago,” said Arne Sorenson, chief executive of
Marriott International. “The virus is in so many different markets of
the United States.”
Mr. Sorenson’s outlook, like those of many chief executives, has worsened in recent weeks as virus cases have spiked in the South and the West, leading some states to close businesses that had previously been allowed to open.
He
said that after bookings at Marriott’s hotels rose in early July, they
had recently fallen again. “The last week was weaker than the week
before,” Mr. Sorenson said.
While retail sales
have mostly rebounded to pre-crisis levels and the stock markets remain
buoyant, business leaders and economists still see serious cause for
concern. Tens of millions of Americans are out of work. Important parts
of the economy — including live sports, movie theaters and many tourist
attractions — remain largely shuttered. Business districts are still
primarily empty as people continue working from home. And as the virus
spreads, new lockdowns could cause further economic disruptions.
Already, there are signs the recovery is losing momentum.
Air
travel had been on the rise, with the Transportation Security
Administration reporting a steady increase in passengers at American
airports. But Ed Bastian, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, suggested that momentum had sputtered in recent days.
“I
have a more cautious view than I did four weeks ago,” Mr. Bastian said.
“While the T.S.A. numbers have continued to slowly tick up, the reality
is that the cash that people are willing to commit to future travel
decisions has stalled. The fear that the virus has created in the South
has put people more into a stay-at-home mentality than we’d seen
before.”
Many chief executives said they were broadly in favor of
reopening the economy — arguing that it was vital for people to be at
work.
“We will need to open up, but it has to be done safely and properly,” said Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. “And if we make mistakes along the way or if situations change, we should adapt and recalibrate.”
In
the last week, companies and states have continued to adjust. Last
week, California shut down indoor dining, bars and movie theaters it had
previously allowed to open back up. And Louisiana ordered its bars
closed.
And after Walmart announced that it would require all its customers to wear masks, several other major retailers, including Target, Walgreens and CVS, made similar announcements.
“As
individuals, we have that responsibility,” the CVS chief executive,
Larry Merlo, said last week. “My mask protects you and your mask
protects me.”
Marriott has stopped short of requiring guests to
wear masks in the public spaces of its hotels. “We have not gone that
far yet,” Mr. Sorenson said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t.”
Yet
with the virus spreading widely and rapidly around the country, there is
little hope that masks alone will allow for a return to business as
usual anytime soon.
“Most C.E.O.s today believe that until there
is a more effective treatment or a vaccine, that work and life are not
going to go back to normal,” said Julie Sweet, chief executive of
Accenture.
Ms. Sweet said even in Europe, where the virus is
largely under control, business leaders are anticipating flare-ups that
could disrupt the economy again. “In Europe, we have clients saying, ‘We
want you back,’ and in the next breath saying, ‘Of course, that will
change,’” she said.
“It’s going to be one step forward, two steps back,” said Julia Hartz, chief executive of Eventbrite, the ticketing website.
With
Congress potentially preparing another round of relief, business
leaders had differing takes on what actions would be most helpful to the
American economy.
Rich Lesser, the chief executive of Boston
Consulting Group, argued that it was imperative for Congress to provide
more relief for the most vulnerable members of society, particularly
essential workers, the elderly and those with compromised immune
systems.
Mr. Lesser said Congress should consider a suite of
measures, including distributing masks, increasing testing and
distributing food to the vulnerable. At scale, these efforts could
reduce hospitalizations by as much as 40 to 70 percent and cost up to
$100 billion a month, he said. But that huge sum, he said, was small
compared with the roughly $1 trillion a month the federal government
spent on coronavirus relief efforts from March through May.
Image
Credit...Etienne Laurent/EPA, via Shutterstock
“Without
the federal government doing something, we will miss the window,” Mr.
Lesser said, adding that the virus was spreading rapidly and becoming
entrenched in communities. “We need the government to say we are focused
on protecting the vulnerable. If we wait to September, it will be too
late.”
Mr. Sorenson of Marriott and Mr. Bastian of Delta — both of
whom have large workforces vulnerable to buyouts, furloughs or layoffs
if the economy does not recover swiftly — called for the expansion of
unemployment coverage.
“The single most
important feature of the next package should be decent personal
unemployment insurance,” Mr. Sorenson said. “We’ve got tens of millions
of people who are still out of work. As long as they’re out of work, we
should make sure that they’re not driven into a hole that is so deep
that they’re not going to be able to come out of it.”
And Ms. Hartz of Eventbrite said that she wanted to see more support for small businesses.
“Something
is going to have to give,” she said. “If there is not federal relief
that is usable and tuned to the needs of these small businesses, they’ll
go out of business.”
More than anything, though, many of the
chief executives called on the public to do its part in curbing the
spread of the virus by wearing masks and following the recommendations
of health experts.
“The reality is the politicization of masks and
the virus has caused a lot of frustrations,” Mr. Bastian said, adding
that Delta has put a number of passengers on no-fly lists because they
were making political statements by refusing to wear masks.
“The
more stringent and compliant we are, the faster we’ll be through this,”
Mr. Bastian said. “Masks and hygiene and distance are the keys. You see
it around the world. It really is about people taking care of each
other.”
Brian Niccol, chief executive of Chipotle, said there had
been some arguments at his company’s restaurants about masks, creating
new headaches for his workers.
“It’s tough for the general managers, it’s tough for the employees,” he said. “There’s already a higher level of anxiety.”
Ms.
Hartz said she hoped that as events gradually started to return,
attendees would use common sense and kindness in their interactions with
each other and staff. “If we are going to save lives, we are going to
have to be selfless,” Ms. Hartz. said. “We have to demonstrate some care
for each other.”
Failing to do so — or letting the virus spiral
so far out of control that broad lockdowns become commonplace once again
— would only make a bad situation worse.
“Getting this wrong —
overreacting or acting irresponsibly — could be far more devastating to
the global economy and the health of Americans,” Mr. Dimon said. “Open
intelligently. Treat your fellow Americans respectfully. Start slow.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.