BitGou: Friday Morning Briefing: Trump unveils three-stage process for states to end coronavirus shutdown

What you need to know about the coronavirus

Turning a corner?
Such is the appetite in financial markets for good news of any sort that prices across the board are jumping on hopes of a gradual re-opening of the U.S. economy and a media report of a possible COVID-19 treatment. President Donald Trump’s guidelines recommend a staggered, three-stage approach - somewhat in contrast to the “big bang” restart he once called for but enough for some to see light at the end of the tunnel.

“Manageable again”
That positive tone was echoed in a statement of Germany’s health minister on Friday as he described national efforts to combat the pandemic. “The outbreak has - as of today - become controllable and manageable again,” Jens Spahn said, adding that the local health care system had “at no time been overwhelmed”. Germany has had proportionately fewer fatalities than other countries hit by the outbreak but has always urged caution. The new language marks a more upbeat mood.

Wuhan toll revisited
China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak that has now caused more than 143,000 deaths globally, said it had revised up its total death toll by 50%, addressing incorrect reporting, delays and omissions of cases. That would take China’s total deaths to over 4,500. The revision comes as U.S. and other officials question the accuracy of China’s tallies - but also as those countries hit hardest by the pandemic have widely varying methodologies for counting their dead. The World Health Organization in Geneva has so far not commented on the Chinese revision.

In India, distrust undermines efforts
Efforts by health workers to identify and track cases have been a source of suspicion in India where there is a deep-rooted distrust of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. The doubts have been fueled notably by a new citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims and a crackdown by India in the Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir. Some Muslims believe health workers are secretly collecting data for a proposed database to identify illegal immigrants, according to community leaders and interviews with residents.

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Catch up with the latest pandemic-related financial insights from Breakingviews, from some much-needed M&A gossip featuring Nokia to a key rare-earths decision in Malaysia Read the latest edition of Corona Capital.

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LIVING UNDER LOCKDOWN

'We all stay home': In Fresno, California, 58-year-old grandmother Maria Luisa Salazar shares a mobile home with her family of 11. Afraid that going to work would put them at risk of the coronavirus, she has stopped working and is staying at home. But like other undocumented immigrants in the United States, she will not receive the federal government stimulus payments that are set to go out in coming weeks, and is wondering how she will support her family.

Beware the boar: While coronavirus closures are coaxing wildlife into the abandoned streets of many a metropolis, in one Israeli city the four-legged interlopers are assertive and, well, quite boorish. Wild boars, some as bulky as Rottweilers and traveling in family packs, have been trotting through Haifa in increasing numbers. Their once-nocturnal visitations now take place throughout the day, as they root through refuse, spook domestic pets and even block roads.

“Cruise ships are being considered as they have readily available rooms and en-suite toilets to minimize person-to-person contact,” Singapore's tourism board said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The city-state is assessing whether migrant workers who have recovered from the coronavirus might be safer on cruise ships than back in dormitories that have become infection hotbeds, despite problems controlling onboard outbreaks encountered elsewhere.

RACE FOR A CURE

Swiss drugmaker Roche aims by next month to offer blood tests to identify those who had been infected with the coronavirus, potentially helping inform locked-down nations of who might have some immunity and be able to resume work or contact with the public. The Basel-based company said it wants to make the antibody test available by early May in countries that accept European CE regulatory standards, and is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization for its use in the United States.

Moderna said that it received a $483 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to accelerate the development of its vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus. The experimental vaccine is being tested in an early-stage trial conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Moderna expects to begin mid-stage trial in the second quarter.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Oh brother! Coronavirus calls split family fortunes on Wall Street

After a calamitous two week plunge in stocks as the coronavirus spread globally, Ricky Sandler called into a midday CNBC show on March 16 with a brash, bullish prediction. “People are totally missing what is happening here. Every new headline, every new hysteria is making people more nervous and it’s actually very, very positive,” he said, recommending that viewers borrow against their mortgages to buy stocks.

7 min read

Locked-down investors aim algorithms at chaotic currency markets

A new breed of trading algorithms has deftly navigated the turbulence in currency markets caused by the coronavirus pandemic, driving up demand for robots and potentially reshaping the world of foreign-exchange dealing beyond the crisis.

8 min read

Hand-holding in the pandemic: Wealth managers grapple with new reality

Interviews with more than a dozen wealth managers whose firms collectively oversee tens of billions of dollars in assets across the United States, Europe and Asia, reveal how these financiers have adapted to the new reality of virtual hand-holding. They listen to concerns, execute instructions and dispense advice to clients - but never while in the same room.

13 min read

Venture-backed startups line up for U.S. government stimulus loans after weighing risks

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived just as Respond Software CEO and co-founder Mike Armistead was trying to sell automated cyber security software to new clients. Most of them are no longer in a buying mood. So Respond Software, a 50-employee, venture-backed startup, applied for about $1 million in government support.

6 min read