Live Stock Market: Trading Updates

March 20, 2020
Business

The orders by Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York that residents stay in their houses as much as possible effectively puts 60 million people on lockdown, raising profound implications for the American economy.

California, with a population of 40 million, is a $3 trillion economy — the world’s fifth largest if it were a country. It is highly integrated with global commerce through its large export industries, its huge farming sector and its role as a hub of international trade. Most U.S. imports from China move through the state’s ports and airports before heading to inland warehouses and then being shipped by trucks and trains to supply auto dealers, factory floors and retailers across the United States.

“We contribute an outsize share of federal income taxes, and are the port of entry to the nation,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

New York, which has about 20 million residents, is the nation’s third-largest state economy, after California and Texas. New York City’s economy is dominated by finance, media and professional services like law and accounting, work that may be able to be done remotely in some form. But more than 300,000 New York City residents — and more than 600,000 statewide — work in bars and restaurants, and hundreds of thousands more work in hotels, retail stores and entertainment venues.

New York is also a major hub of international tourism, virtually all of which will come to a halt. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the nation’s second largest by tonnage, after the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. And while the state is no longer known for its factories, upstate New York still has a substantial manufacturing sector.