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The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rose above 100,500 on Thursday, one day after it exceeded the 100,000 level, a grim marker for the nation with the highest number of cases and deaths in the world.
President Donald Trump described the latest tally as a “very sad milestone” in a Thursday tweet, which comes as all 50 U.S. states are in the process of easing restrictions on movement and other measures that health experts say are needed to prevent another wave of infections.
Trump also tweeted at technology companies for attempting to censor him, after Twitter put a fact check warning on the president’s tweets for the first time. The president is expected to sign an executive order on social-media companies on Thursday, according to a White House spokesperson.
Late Wednesday night, the Wall Street Journal reported a draft copy of the order would limit legal protections afforded to social-media companies, making it easier for federal regulators to hold companies liable for curbing users’ free speech. The aggressive order would be broad-reaching and revoke protections tech companies have under the 1996 Communications Decency Act that give them wide latitude in moderating content, and could lead to federal agencies withdrawing advertising contracts with companies found in violation.
The news comes as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise around the world, including in countries that appeared to have contained the spread. South Korea reported 79 new infections overnight, its biggest one-day increase in about two months, and is considering reimposing restrictions on movement, the Guardian reported.
Brazil again recorded more than 20,000 infections overnight, as the Americas cement their positions as center of the pandemic, as the World Health Organization had warned on Wednesday.
New Zealand, meanwhile, which has been praised for moving fast to contain the virus and for implementing a robust testing and tracing program, discharged its last COVID-19 patient from hospital on Wednesday. New Zealand has recorded zero cases for six days.
Latest tallies
There are now 5.72 million case of COVID-19 worldwide and at least 356,279 people have died, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. At least 2.4 million people have recovered.
The U.S. has 1.7 million cases, or more than a fifth of the total, and 100,576 fatalities, or nearly a third of the total.
Brazil has 411,821 cases and 25,598 deaths, while Russia has 379,051 cases and 4,142 fatalities.
The U.K. has 268,620 cases and 37,542 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe and second highest in the world after the U.S.
Spain, an early hot spot, has 236,769 cases and 27,118 deaths, while Italy has 231,139 cases and 33,072 deaths.
France has 183,038 cases and 28,599 deaths, while Germany has 181,918 cases and 8,463 deaths.
India surpassed Turkey by case numbers on Thursday and now has 160,310 cases and 4,560 deaths. Turkey has 159,797 cases and 4,431 deaths. Iran has 143,849 cases and 7,627 deaths.
Peru has 135,905 cases and 3,983 deaths. Canada is next with 88,996 cases and 6,877 deaths. China, where the disease was first reported late last year, has 84,106 cases and 4,638 deaths.
The U.K. has the highest rate of deaths as measured by excess mortality figures, the Financial Times reported, based on an analysis of deaths among countries that use comparable data. The U.K.’s excess mortality rate comes to 59,537 since the week ended March 20, equal to 891 deaths per million people, said the paper.
What’s the latest medical news?
Swiss drug company Roche Holding AG RO, +2.46% is testing a combination of its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra with Gilead Sciences Inc.’s GILD, +1.04% remdesivir in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Roche has previously announced it is studying Actemra in 450 hospitalized COVID-19 patients participating in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled late-stage trial; results from that trial are expected “this summer,” Roche said.
The new Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, multicenter study will test Actemra and remdesivir against placebo and remdesivir in about 450 patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Trial sites are in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization| to remdesivir on May 1 as a treatment for some severely ill COVID-19 patients. The experimental drug has not been approved as a treatment for the disease caused by the coronavirus.
What’s the economy saying?
More than 2.1 million unemployed Americans applied for state unemployment benefits in the week ended May 23, down from 2.4 million claims in the prior week, but still marking the 10th straight week with first-time claims of over 2 million, as MarketWatch’s Greg Robb reported.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been looking for 2.12 million new claims. A new federal relief program for so-called gig workers like Uber Technologies Inc.’s UBER, -0.34% drivers, totaled 1.2 million last week.
Since the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns started in mid-March, some 46 million people have applied for jobless benefits, on an unadjusted basis. Initial claims have fallen steadily since hitting a record 6.9 million in the week ended March 28.
“The decline in continuing claims is encouraging, signaling at least some people are finding jobs or are being rehired as the economy is reopening,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “Even so, labor-market conditions remain weak and layoffs are ongoing. We think new protocols related to virus containment will continue to restrict activity and layoffs, though they may continue to moderate, will remain high in the near term.”
Separately, the government said durable goods orders tumbled 17.2% in April, although that was better than the 18.2% decline economists polled by MarketWatch were expecting.
Revised government data showed the U.S. economy shrank by an annual 5% pace in the first quarter, instead of by 4.8%. A downward revision to inventory investment mostly accounted for the downward revision, the Commerce Department said. Looking ahead, economists surveyed by MarketWatch predict GDP will plunge at a 27.7% annual rate as people stayed home to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales fell 21.8% in April from March as the pandemic kept prospective buyers away.
Compared with a year ago, pending home sales were down 33.8%. Overall, it was the largest decline since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this data in 2001.
The index measures real-estate transactions where a contract was signed but the sale had not yet closed, benchmarked to contract-signing activity in 2001. It is an indicator of existing-home sales reports in the coming months.
See also:Mortgage rates hit another all-time low as home buyers rush to secure cheap financing
“Mortgage applications for purchases have fully unwound their previous plunge, suggesting sales are rebounding in May,” Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. “The housing sector seems to be weathering the crisis about as well as could be expected, even if it will take a long time before sales return to pre-virus levels given the massive job losses.”
What are companies saying?
HP Inc. HPQ, -12.38% reported an 11% decline in its fiscal second-quarter revenue late Wednesday, as supply-chain disruption issues and a loss of corporate PC and printer sales impacted the quarter, as MarketWatch’s Jon Swartz reported.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in demand for anything — notebooks, displays, mice, home printing — to work, learn, and play from home,” Chief Executive Enrique Lores said in an interview. “PCs have never been more essential during this crisis.”
But profit at the Silicon Valley tech company’s struggling printer business dipped below profits from PCs for the first time in at least five years in the most recent quarter, as most corporate offices shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. The current quarter is expected to be even worse for printing, once the company’s cash cow.
Printing, especially printer supplies, has long been a money-maker for HP, which sells high-margin ink cartridges to its printer customers, as MarketWatch’s Therese Poletti noted. With many big tech companies no longer planning to have workers return to offices, HP’s corporate printing business is likely to suffer, she wrote.
There was better news for Box Inc. BOX, +2.97%, as the enterprise-content platform reported fiscal first-quarter results that illustrated hunger among large customers for work-collaboration technology that, in turn, exceeded Wall Street estimates.
“The quarter was about driving expansion in large enterprises, and they adopted it in a healthy way,” Box Chief Executive Aaron Levie told MarketWatch in a phone interview shortly after the results were announced. The company said it inked 40 deals of at least $100,000; in the same quarter a year ago, it was 33.
For more, see:Box shares climb 6% as large-enterprise deals jump
In the retail sector, Dollar General Corp. DG, -0.60% and Dollar Tree Inc. DLTR, +11.42% had strong quarters, boosted by demand for food and home products during stay-at-home orders. Both companies beat earnings expectations and said demand remained elevated into the current quarter.
Don’t miss:How companies are becoming creative with accounting during the COVID-19 pandemic
Elsewhere, companies continued to issue debt and equity and to offer updates on their plans to reopen and resume operations.
Here are the latest things companies have said about COVID-19:
• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF, -8.46% reported earnings and sales that missed expectations, as losses widened in the pandemic. Digital sales grew 25% over the period, with about half of the company’s 850 stores around the world now open for business after closing all locations due to the pandemic. Abercrombie & Fitch had cash and equivalents of $704 million as of May 2 with $800,000 remaining from its $89.4 million ABL facility.
• Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.83% is converting 125,000 of the 175,000 workers the e-commerce giant hired on a temporary basis to permanent full-time employees starting in June. Regular full-time roles have a minimum wage of $15 per hour. The workers were brought on board to help Amazon meet coronavirus-related demand, with many planning to go back to previous companies when states re-open.
• Boeing Co. BA, +2.56% is laying off 6,770 U.S. workers,and the first employees affected will be notified this week. International locations also are planning layoffs that will be announced on their own timelines. Boeing said it is seeing “green shoots” after the devastation wrought by the virtual halt on air travel, but the industry will take “some years to return to what it was just two months ago.” Some of its airline customers report that “reservations are outpacing cancellations on their flights for the first time since the pandemic started,” Boeing said. Some of its businesses, such as defense, will continue hiring. The company is resuming production of its 737 Max aircraft in Renton, Wash. The program restarted at a low rate as the company implements safety and product quality checks. Boeing halted the 737 Max production in January. Production “will gradually ramp up” this year, the company said. The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes less than five months apart that were linked to a faulty anti-stall system.
• Burlington Stores Inc. BURL, +3.52% reported a wider-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss and revenue that fell more than forecast, but said sales of stores that have reopened in May have exceeded year-ago levels. All of its stores were closed by March 22 because of the pandemic, but stores started to reopen on May 11, and 402 stores are expected to be reopened by May 29, with most of the rest expected to reopen by mid-June. The company can’t provide financial guidance given the uncertainties associated with the pandemic, but expects 2020 capital expenditures of about $260 million, below previous expectations of about $400 million.
• Dollar General’s first-quarter earnings blew past estimates amid strong demand during the coronavirus pandemic. The Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based discount store chain’s same-store sales rose 21.7%, well ahead of the 8.7% FactSet consensus. “Same-store sales increased in each of the consumables, seasonal, home products and apparel categories, with the largest percentage increase in the home products category,” the company said in a statement. “The company believes consumer behavior driven by COVID-19 had a significant positive effect on net sales and same-store sales.” Dollar General has paid about $60 million in bonuses to front-line workers, and temporarily adjusted benefits and leave politics to give workers paid time off if they need to care for a loved one with the virus. It has provided masks, gloves and other protective equipment to workers and implemented social-distancing measures inside stores and distribution centers. To enhance its liquidity position, the company issued $1.0 billion of 3.5% senior notes due in 2030 and $500 million of 4.125% senior notes due in 2050. As of May 1, it had $2.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents as well as $1.1 billion of availability under a revolving credit facility. The company said it is still seeing elevated demand in the current quarter, but withdrew full-year guidance because of the uncertainty created by the pandemic.
• Dollar Tree reported first-quarter earnings and sales that beat expectations. Same-store sales increased 7%, with Family Dollar up 15.5% and the namesake Dollar Tree down 0.9%. Dollar Tree’s same-store sales were hurt by declines during the Easter holiday, with the party, candy and Easter categories down 490 basis points, according to Mike Witynski, enterprise president of the company. However, the chain bounced back with discretionary sales improving for things like Mother’s Day, balloons and graduation, according to CEO Gary Philbin. “With more than 38 million Americans filing unemployment claims in the past nine weeks, we believe that Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are part of the solution to help millions of families stretch their budgets to help make ends meet,” Philbin said in a statement. Dollar Tree’s portfolio of stores are considered essential businesses with all 15,300-plus stores open for business. Store hours have been modified for cleaning and restocking, contactless payment options have been added and other measures taken in light of the pandemic. Dollar Tree previously withdrew its guidance, and expects capex for the year of $1.0 billion compared with the previous expectation of $1.2 billion. Dollar Tree ended the quarter with $1.76 billion in cash after drawing down $750 million from its revolving line of credit.
• Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. LL, +9.31% reported first-quarter profit that was well above expectations, but sales that came up short, including a surprise decline in same-store sales given the effects of the pandemic. The wood flooring company swung to profit, as it booked a tax benefit of $4.4 million, compared with an expense of $0.2 million last year, as provisions of the CARES Act allowed the company to carry back certain losses and deduct certain capital expenditures. Same-store sales for the current quarter to date are down about 30%, while the FactSet consensus for the full second quarter is an 11% decline. “As of today, approximately 60% of our stores are fully operational, approximately 25% are scheduling appointments to allow customers to visit our showrooms, and approximately 15% are utilizing our warehouse-only model while less than 10 remain closed,” said Chief Executive Charles Tyson.
• Cannabis retailer MedMen Enterprises Inc. MMNFF, -21.15% MMEN, -21.64% said the pandemic has damaged sales in California and Nevada as it reported third-quarter results showing a loss. Revenue rose to $45.9 million from $32.6 million a year ago. Shelter-in-place orders, social distancing and other measures various governments have implemented to slow the pandemic are among the reasons its sales were hurt. MedMen had $31.8 million in cash and equivalents at end quarter.
• MGM Resorts International MGM, -1.76% plans to reopen its Las Vegas properties on June 4, including the Bellagio, MGM Grand Las Vegas, New York-New York and The Signature casino resorts. The amenities at all properties will be limited at the start. “As demand for the destination builds, additional venues within these resorts will open and other MGM Resorts properties on The Strip will reopen,” the company said. Employees will be required to wear masks, while guests will be “strongly encouraged” to do the same, and could be required to wear masks in certain settings where social distancing is more difficult to maintain.
• Micron Technology Inc. MU, -3.53% raised its profit and revenue outlook for the fiscal third-quarter. The company now expects adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents to 80 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 56 cents, and revenue of $5.2 billion to $5.4 billion, which is above expectations of $4.93 billion. When the company reported fiscal second-quarter results on March 25, it expected adjusted EPS of 55 cents, plus or minus 15 cents, and revenue of $4.6 billion to $5.2 billion.
• Sanderson Farms Inc. SAFM, -4.50% reported a fiscal second-quarter loss that was wider than expected, and sales that surprisingly declined, as the pandemic led to a sharp drop in boneless chicken breast meat. Average sales price per pound of fresh and frozen poultry fell 8.3%, while average feed costs per pound of poultry products processed decreased 1.1%. As an example of market volatility resulting from the pandemic, the company said market prices for boneless breast meat had increased to $1.35 a pound during the fourth week of March, then fell to a record low of 74 cents a pound a month later as a result of the pandemic, with some realized prices hitting 50 cents a pound. As lockdown restrictions started to ease, prices moved to $1.58 a pound by mid-May, before pulling back to current prices of about $1.31 a pound.
• Workday Inc. WDAY, +8.83% reported sales that topped Wall Street expectations and announced a partnership with Salesforce.com Inc. CRM, +4.24%. “The cloud is playing a critical role in today’s climate, with organizations leaning on Workday to pivot,” Chief Executive Aneel Bhusri said in a statement. Workday is “well positioned” to weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but lowered its fiscal 2021 subscription revenue guidance to account for the near-term challenges with the pandemic. It expects fiscal 2021 subscription revenue to range from $3.67 billion to $3.69 billion, and fiscal second-quarter subscription revenue of $913 million to $915 million. The partnership with Salesforce involves further integration of Workday and Salesforce’s Work.com, a new suite of applications and resources to help business with their reopening.
• Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s WYNN, -0.84% Wynn Las Vegas will reopen next week. Both hotel towers, the casino and all of its restaurants will reopen on June 4. The newest restaurant, Elio, will reopen later in June. Also opening will be the resorts pools, the golf course, the three retail areas and full-service beauty salons, barber shop, spa and fitness centers. Wynn employees will be required to wear face coverings and will have all been tested for COVID-19.
• Yeti Holdings Inc. YETI, -3.46% has launched an underwritten offering of 6.1 million shares by certain of its shareholders. The maker of outdoor products including coolers and drinkware will not receive any proceeds from the deal, which is being managed by Goldman Sachs. The offering priced at $32.65 a share, or 3.3% below Wednesday’s closing price.
Coronavirus Update: U.S. Deaths Top 100,000; Amazon to Keep Most Temp Jobs
