Topsy-turvy | The oil market faced its worst crisis in a generation yesterday, with prices falling below zero and traders willing to pay $40 a barrel to get someone to take it off their hands. As Javier Blas and Will Kennedy explain, the most important global commodity is quickly losing all value as chronic oversupply overwhelms the world's crude tanks, pipelines and supertankers. - The plunge was related to the expiry of a West Texas Intermediate futures contract, with Brent still positive. But it also reflects a crisis in the market despite the OPEC+ deal to cut 10% of global output, and will hit economies already grappling with the coronavirus.
Closing borders | President Donald Trump said he'll sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the U.S. to contain the coronavirus. He didn't specify a time frame or who would be affected but tweeted that he made the decision "in light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens." - Congressional leaders are on the brink of a deal for fresh relief for small businesses.
- The House will vote this week on letting members cast future votes by proxy for colleagues who don't travel to Washington due to virus-related concerns.
Lost love | When Covid-19 struck, Italians expected Europe to come to their aid. Instead, Germany and France hoarded protective gear and Christine Lagarde at the European Central Bank brushed off their financial distress. As a result, John Follain and Alessandra Migliaccio report, senior figures in Rome talk of unprecedented public anger toward the European Union as thousands die each week and the economy implodes. - Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy will present a plan this week to gradually ease its lockdown from May 4.
Ruinous times | Small business owners the world over are being slammed by the maelstrom wrought by the coronavirus, but in Africa they're particularly vulnerable because the poorest continent is worst equipped to get aid to those who need it most. The fallout could place a third of the 300 million informal jobs in Africa at risk, while between 9 million and 18 million formal jobs could be lost, according to McKinsey & Co.
Food fight | The virus has done more than disrupt supply chains, it's restarted a discussion about food self-sufficiency tinged with nationalism. Caroline Alexander and Agnieszka de Sousa report that at least 10 countries have introduced curbs on overseas sales of grains or rice since mid-March, and while many of those actions might not stick, that such threats were made at all serves as a wake-up call to governments. Women carry bags of rice in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on April 17. "We are going to see more nationalistic food systems and attempts at food self-sufficiency," said Rami Zurayk, a professor at the American University of Beirut. Photographer: Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images
What to Watch - The U.K. Parliament reopens today with the first order of business a plan for a virtual House of Commons that complies with social distancing rules.
- Democratic contender Joe Biden raised $46.7 million in March, his best monthly haul of the presidential campaign, even though the pandemic shut down large swathes of the U.S. and prevented in-person fundraising.
- Not long ago, Singapore was a global standard bearer for taming the virus outbreak — now it's home to Southeast Asia's largest number of infections and is racing to regain control, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong today extending the partial lockdown until June 1.
Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.
And finally ... A conservative religious group's gatherings have spawned virus hotspots in Malaysia, India and now Pakistan. The Muslim missionary sect, Tabligh-e-Jamaat, hosted events in Kuala Lumpur, Lahore and New Delhi attended by tens of thousands of followers. Since then, Faseeh Mangi reports, more than 8,500 have tested positive. They're not alone. Religious groups have been linked to clusters around the world, from a church in South Korea to ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and Israel. Worshipers at the Tabligh-e-Jamaat gathering held on the outskirts of Lahore on March 13. Read more here on how religions and followers across the globe are dealing with restrictions introduced to stem the pandemic. Photographer: Arif Alie/AFP via Getty Images |
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