Wall Street Tries to Rebound After Monday’s Slump: Live Updates

The aircraft manufacturer Airbus also said Tuesday it would suspend manufacturing in France and Spain for the next four days while it takes measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Herbert Diess, the chief executive of Volkswagen, said during a news conference that Volkswagen would close plants in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Slovakia by the end of this week, and that most other European sites would prepare to close for several weeks.

Peugeot, Renault, Fiat and Ford have already closed some or all of their European plants. The German carmakers have resisted shutting down production, but Volkswagen’s decision was an indication that health concerns and supply chain issues have made it nearly impossible for manufacturers to continue operating normally.

Fed’s Kashkari says “nothing is completely off the table” for the central bank.

Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that the central bank still has “very powerful” emergency lending authorities left in its arsenal to help protect the economy against fallout from the coronavirus.

“Nothing is completely off the table,” Mr. Kashkari said on CNBC on Tuesday, adding that those tools exist “if” the Fed Chair and Treasury Department choose to use them. “We need to see what is necessary to keep the economy moving, and again, we’re going to do our part, but I can’t tell you right now what exactly is coming in the future.”

While the Fed on Sunday slashed interest rates to near-zero and rolled out a package of other programs meant to safeguard imperiled economic growth, it has not tapped its emergency lending authorities, which require Treasury Department signoff. Analysts and economists speculate that it will need to do so soon in order to buy commercial paper and calm growing disorder in that market.

Who gets a bailout?

Major U.S. airlines are asking for more than $50 billion in government support, about a week after they said they could weather the economic storm. The speed and severity of the economic downturn means other industries are likely to follow, argues today’s DealBook newsletter.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/business/stock-market-today.html