Announced that the spread of the virus might be reaching an apex, and were getting close to that flattening of the curve. Positive messages about the outbreak were welcome news on wall street, helping to send stocks soaring on monday, and by wednesday the s p 500ed had joined the dow in exiting the bear market it fell into on march 12th. Its now up 25 from its low point just a little more than two weeks ago. More gains came as the fed stepped up its efforts. Meanwhile, the irs was moving to send direct payments to individuals, and billions of federal dollars to help Small Businesses stay afloat were being sent to banks for loans that could eventually be forgiven although problems caused a bottleneck in getting the cash out. Still, the grim news about the economy continues unabated as another 6. 6 million filed firsttime jobless claims this week. Meanwhile, theres a growing push by the president and others to start allowing businesses that have been shut down because of the coronavirus
Ben, i want to start with you. We got a glimmer of hope as we see maybe social distancing is actual working, the growth of coronavirus cases is slowing. We also, of course, had unprecedented moved by the moves by the federal reserve. So tell us what you see in the market. Its got everything that it could have wanted this week. It got the good news, the illness appears to be slowing and then the fed coming in with this massive package where its going to buy highyield bonds and muni bonds to make sure that the markets are functioning correctly. You couldnt ask for anything more. And its just, its just spurred the market back to this height that its had. Its now up more than 20 from the bottom. Jon jon which is extraordinary, but you dont necessarily see this continuing. Were not going to see a v straight back to 30,000 on the dow. It just usually doesnt happen that way. Theres the too much that can go wrong. We can see the disease either pick up again or maybe even show up in the next si
I have two young children, so the sooner that this can pass, and we get back to schools opening, and things like that, and this mitigates things, then yes, by all means. They also want to remind you that a mask is not a replacement for social distancing and sheltering at home. Instead, the mask serves as one more step toward the new normal. This will also help us in the future and also now, as we hope to be able to relax the stayathome order. By then, people will already be in the hablt of wearing Face Coverings. Reporter the order does go into effect tonight but theyre not planning to enforce it until the middle of next week, to give people time to prepare. In San Francisco, christie smith, nbc bay area news. Thank you. So if you dont have a mask yet, we made it easy for you. Our consumer investigator chris chmura put together this video on how to make one in about five minutes. No sewing required. You can see the diy tutorial at nbc bay area. Com. Well, startling new information out
Further cooperation to minimize persontoperson contact, and we will reinforce the medical system during that period. Abe says the measure will cover kanagawa, sitate ma, chib, fukushima yoko, osaka and the capital, but they will not impose a lockdown as some governments have. Abe says he will try to maintain economic and social activities as much as possible. Public transportation and supermarkets will remain open. He says the plan will be finalilized after consulting wi the Governments Panel of experts on tuesday. The preparations come as the number of infections surges in major cities. In a growing number of those cases, Health Officials are unable to trace the root of transmission. The government says the medical system could collapse in areas that see a large number of cases. Across japan, there are now 4,000 confirmed infections, excluding 712 from the diamond princess cruise ship. About a quarter of confirmed cases are from tokyo. More than 250 new infections were reported over t
Brad wenthrup. Your reaction to this seemingly good news. We are not out of the woods, but it seems like its good news. You want to see the numbers go down. The goal all along was to beat the models. You saw the models happen in other countries where it went right up, very high. We were trying to stay under that and keep our Healthcare System in check and not overrun. This is good news because thats what we have been after all along. Starting to see the trend go down. Liz will be do you think the United States has answered the wakeup call . You saw the warnings about pandemic. Now the president is saying one of the toughest decisions of his life is reopening the country possibly on may. Americans may wake up to a brandnew world of having to wear masks, and maybe tests for coronavirus. New apps on their iphones and phones to track them if they are near somebody who has coronavirus. Do you think congress has answered the wakeup call that has been ringing for years. We are in an able of a