Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks fall after weeks-long rally
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling on Wall Street as its weekslong rally hits the brakes.
The S&P 500 was down 0.9% in midday trading Tuesday, on pace for its largest loss in almost three weeks. A day earlier, it had turned positive for the year for the first time since February.
Skeptics have been saying for weeks that the rally, which reached 44.5% between late March and Monday, may have been overdone. The economy has given glimmers of hope that the recession could end relatively quickly, but stocks have soared much more quickly than the economy is expected to.
JOB OPENINGS
Employers laid off 7.7 million in April
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. employers laid-off 7.7 million workers in April — a sign of how deep the economic hole is as offices, restaurants, stores and schools are re-opening after being shuttered because of the coronavirus.
The Labor Department also said in a Tuesday report that job openings plummeted and hiring all but disappeared in April. The number of available jobs fell 16% from March to 5 million.
Hires declined 31% to 3.5 million.
The grim April — which followed an even bleaker March with 11.5 million layoffs — suggests that the economy could take time to recover nearly a decade's worth of gains that vanished in about 60 days.
MACY’S-SALES UPDATE
Macy's says reopened stores luring back customers
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s said Tuesday that roughly several hundred stores that have reopened are performing better than anticipated as the department store chain disclosed an update on its fiscal first-quarter results.
Like many department stores and other non-essential retailers, Macy’s was forced to close its roughly 800 stores in mid-March and saw its sales evaporate.
Late Monday, the department store chain said it completed its debt offering, raising about $4.5 billion of new financing.
FRANCE-AVIATION
France announces $16.9 billion in aid for aviation industry
PARIS (AP) — France’s government has announced $16.9 billion in aid for the pandemic-battered aerospace industry, including plane maker Airbus and national airline Air France.
The finance minister unveiled the rescue plan Tuesday for an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people in France, whose livelihoods have been thrown into uncertainty by travel restrictions prompted by the virus. The money includes direct government investment, subsidies, loans and loan guarantees.
The money will require the industry to invest more and faster in electric, hydrogen or other lower-emission aircraft. It includes billions in loans and loan guarantees already promised to Air France, whose planes are almost entirely grounded by the virus.
IBM-FACIAL RECOGNITION
IBM quits facial recognition, joins call for police reforms
UNDATED (AP) — IBM says it is getting out of the facial recognition business over concern about how it can be used for mass surveillance and racial profiling.
A letter to U.S. lawmakers Monday from new IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech giant “has sunset its general purpose facial recognition and analysis software products.”
Krishna was addressing Democrats who recently introduced police reform legislation in Congress in response to the death of George Floyd and others in law enforcement interactions that have sparked a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice. IBM had previously tested its facial recognition software in New York City.
HONDA-CYBERATTACK
Japanese carmaker Honda hit by cyberattack
LONDON (AP) — Japanese carmaker Honda says it has been hit by a cyberattack.
The company says in a statement Tuesday that there was no breach of its data, but that it is working to “minimize the impact and to restore full functionality of production, sales and development activities.″ It says that at the moment the impact on its business should be minimal.
Production in Japan is back to normal, after being disrupted Monday morning, and it is also expected to resume Tuesday in North America.
Like other carmakers, Honda has struggled to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts to return to production.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CRUISES
As cruise industry prepares to sail again, choppy waters ahead
UNDATED (AP) — The cruise industry hopes to set sail later this summer. But with images of coronavirus-ravaged ships still fresh in many minds, there could be years of choppy water ahead.
The global cruise industry expected to carry 32 million passengers and take in $71 billion in revenue this year. The consulting firm Euromonitor International says that will fall by at least 50%. Euromonitor expects it to take more than three years for the industry to recover.
Cruise lines stopped sailing in mid-March after several high-profile outbreaks at sea. They are still developing plans to sail safely again.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
