What you need to know from the WSJ today

Fauci Warns of ‘Needless Suffering and Death’ if U.S. Reopens Too Quickly

Health Officials to Testify on Reopening to Senate Committee

Health officials, including Dr. Fauci, will testify in the Senate (remotely) today on how to reopen the economy safely during the COVID pandemic. There’s much debate over if the US has enough testing capacity to reopen. Furthermore states are reopening despite none seeing a 14-day drop in infections, the recommended indicator for reopening.

New Coronavirus Clusters Emerge as Some Countries Ease Lockdowns

US death toll is at >80,000 (>286,000 world wide). US cases of >1.3 million (>4.19 million globally). Science magazine says that the search for a vaccine requires more than one approach. “No single vaccine or vaccine platform alone is likely to meet the global need.” The US and Europe are moving to reopen their economies. Iran has seen a surge in infections in the past week. In China, seven provinces reported new locally transmitted cases over the past two weeks, including in Wuhan. South Korea delayed reopening schools after a new cluster of infections emerged linked to nightclubs.

Consumer Prices Post Biggest Drop Since Last Recession During April Lockdowns

CPI down 0.8% as index for gasoline prices tumbles 20.6%. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices decreased 0.4%, the largest monthly drop in records dating to 1957. But pandemic is pushing food prices higher.

JO: Despite money printing, I don’t see us seeing inflation in prices. But we’re seeing asset price inflation

Toyota Sees Recovery This Year

‘We believe April was the bottom,’ says Japanese car maker’s CFO, but it still forecasts sharp decline in operating profit. This is by far the most-optimistic viewpoint amongst auto makers.

Uber is seeking to acquire GrubHub in an all-stock deal.

Why the Economic Recovery Will Be More of a ‘Swoosh’ Than V-Shaped

Most policy makers and corporate executives, previously hoping for a V-shaped recovery, now expect a “swoosh” shaped recovery.

“This is not going to be a quick recovery,” said Mark Schneider, chief executive of Nestlé SA, the world’s biggest packaged foods maker, recently. “This is going to be a several-quarter, if not several-year kind of process.”

Airlines don’t expect passenger numbers to return to pre-coronavirus levels until 2022.

See the shapes of recoveries thorough this link:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/05/04/the-abcs-of-the-post-covid-economic-recovery/

China Economic Data Indicate V-Shaped Recovery Is Unlikely
Factory-gate prices post steepest decline in four years for April as coronavirus pandemic shrank demand globally

Turkey Strains to Ward Off Currency Crisis as Pandemic Weighs on Economy

Even before COVID, Turkey was propping up the Turkish lira by burning through billions in foreign currency reserves. With COVID-related unemployment, lockdowns in exports from Turkey, and the lira tumbling vs the US Dollar, Turkey is in a currency crisis and its cost of borrowing is becoming prohibitive. Many think Erdogan will need to ask for assistance from the IMF or the US, which he has refused in the past. Especially since there is foreign policy tension between Turkey and the US over Turkey’s purchases of defense systems from Russia.