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FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks again move higher after giving up morning gains
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher on Wall Street after another bout of volatile trading took the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 945 points in the early going and then briefly into the red by late morning.
Markets bumped up again just around midday after Vice President Mike Pence said the nation's big health insurers would cover co-pays for coronavirus testing. The Dow was up 190 points, or 0.8%, to 24,040 as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time.
Investors are likely to see more big swings until the number of infections from the new coronavirus decelerate, market watchers say, and they also want a big, coordinated response from governments and central banks.
VIRUS-AIRLINES
Airlines slash flights
UNDATED (AP) — Airlines are slashing flights and freezing hiring as they experience a sharp drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations in the face of the spreading coronavirus.
Delta said Tuesday that travel demand has fallen so badly in the past week that it expects one-third of seats to be empty this month on flights within the U.S.
The drop in travel demand is across the board -- business travelers are grounded as meetings and conferences are being canceled, and leisure travelers are avoiding unnecessary trips.
Delta says fear of travel is felt most sharply among people over 55, and it’s worse on the West Coast than the East Coast.
VIRUS-EUROPEAN AIRLINES
European airlines cancel some flights
LONDON (AP) — Major European airlines are canceling flights to and from Italy after the country put a nationwide lock down on travel
British Airways said Tuesday it is canceled all flights and could not confirm the status of future flights.
Air France is reducing its traffic to Italy by half for all of March, and suspending flights to Hong Kong and Taipei until March 29. Air France has canceled 3,600 flights this month.
Ryanair, Europe's busiest airline, canceled all international flights to and from Italy from Saturday until April 9. The carrier said passengers currently in Italy could fly home on one of the flights operating up to Friday night.
Spain’s Cabinet has banned direct flights between Italy and Spanish airports. Routes between Spain and Italy amount to 9% of all Spanish international air traffic. Some 16 million passengers took flights between the two countries last year.
VIRUS-EUROPEAN AIRPORTS
Europe airports expect 187 million fewer passengers
UNDATED (AP) — Europe's airports say they expect 187 million fewer passengers this year due to the virus outbreak, which one official says is “turning into a shock of unprecedented proportions for our industry.”
The ACI Europe, which represents the sector, estimated Tuesday that the outbreak will mean a 13.5% drop in airport passengers in the first quarter alone. That translates to 1.32 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in lost revenue.
Airports in Italy, where the government has imposed a travel lockdown on the whole country, are the most affected. Scores of nations have issued travel advisories urging their citizens to avoid Italy.
Olivier Jankovec, the head of ACI Europe, says “what they are now bracing for is a total collapse in air connectivity and the prospect of losing most of their revenues.”
He called on the Italian government to provide emergency financial support, and said that might be necessary across the EU if more authorities clamp down on travel.
VIRUS-SEC
SEC employees to work remotely
WASHINGTON (AP) — Securities and Exchange Commission employees will be working remotely for the foreseeable future after a coronavirus scare at its Washington headquarters.
The agency says it was informed that an employee had received medical treatment for respiratory symptoms on Monday. The employee was informed by a doctor that they may have been infected with the coronavirus and was referred for testing.
The SEC says that, among other precautions, it is encouraging headquarters employees to telework until further guidance.
The SEC is the first major federal agency to employ teleworking in an effort to contain the virus' spread.
VIRUS-SEATTLE ECONOMY
SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle's downtown streets are nearly empty as people work from home to avoid possible spread of the coronavirus.
That means fewer customers for restaurants and shops that rely on the normally bustling traffic from Amazon employees and others.
Business groups are trying to work with the city and state to get emergency relief for business owners and hourly employees. Amazon and Microsoft have both said they will keep paying hourly workers while their campuses are largely shut down.
Restaurants and food trucks that are normally filled with people say they've seen their business plummet recently.
VIRUS-FILM CANCELLATIONS
More movie releases rescheduled
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood continued to reschedule its upcoming movie releases due to the coronavirus, as Sony Pictures on Tuesday announced that it's moving “Peter Rabbit 2” to August.
“Peter Rabbit 2” had been set to hit U.K. and European theaters on March 27, and open in the U.S. on April 3. Instead, Sony said the sequel to 2018's “Peter Rabbit” will launch on Aug. 7.
Cinemas have been closed in China for several weeks. On Monday, Italy shuttered all of its theaters.
In many countries, health experts are advocating social distancing to help prevent the spread of the virus. Last week, the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” postponed from early April to November.
SAUDI-OIL
Saudi Arabia increases oil output to record high
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco says it will increase its oil production to 12.3 million barrels a day in April, a record amount.
Tuesday's move makes good on the country's promise over the weekend to increase output, after Russia refused to cooperate on cutting production.
That breakdown in cooperation led to a 25% plunge in the price of crude on Monday. It's the the sharpest decline seen since the 1991 Gulf War.
In a filing made Tuesday, Aramco said that the increase in production represents a rise of 300,000 barrels per day. The company said the increase would start on April 1.
WELLS FARGO-CONGRESS
New Wells Fargo CEO: Issues will not resolve until 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — Charles Scharf, the third chief executive of Wells Fargo in four years, is telling lawmakers that there's much the bank needs to do to fix its cultural problems, and he isn't expecting it to be done until 2021.
Tuesday's hearing is the first of two that Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, is holding this week.
Scharf took over the troubled bank late last year, replacing Tim Sloan, who resigned in March only a couple of weeks after being lambasted by members of Congress in his own hearing.
Wells Fargo's sales practices scandal is nearly four years old at this point, and the bank continues to remain mired in legal and regulatory trouble.
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