Stocks Unsteady as Relief Over U.S. Stimulus Fades: Live Updates

March 25, 2020
Business

Dozens of American companies expect to resume normal operations in China by the end of April and keep their investment plans, a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce found.

While the pandemic has continued to cripple economies around the world, the Chinese authorities have started to revive production and ease their lockdown on Hubei Province, where the coronavirus first appeared. Last Thursday, China reported no new local infections for the first time since the outbreak began late last year.

After surveying nearly 120 firms, the chamber’s China branch said on Wednesday that some companies also planned to maintain investments they had previously set in motion, even as half the firms reported significant drops in revenue and others were pessimistic about economic growth amid the pandemic.

The timeline echoes predictions made by Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory disease expert in China, who has said the outbreak could be brought under control within the country by late April.

But reports have claimed that health officials in Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, are not publicizing the number of people with asymptomatic infections, raising fears that the virus is still spreading. Cases are also climbing among people arriving in the country from abroad, threatening to start a second wave of infections.

TECH FIX