The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Tuesday related to the national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
________________________
MOVIE TIME: Cinemark Holdings will reopen some of its U.S. movie theaters on July 24, with additional theaters reopening in subsequent weeks.
All theaters will reopen with elevated cleaning and safety standards.
Cinemark runs 555 theaters in 41 states and 15 countries throughout South and Central America. Rival AMC is also planning to reopen some of its movie theaters next month.
DEAL DELAY: Online services Yahoo Japan and Line Corp. said Tuesday that fallout from the pandemic is causing delays that will push back their merger to later than the scheduled October date.
Z Holdings Corp., which operates Yahoo Japan, and Naver Corp. of South Korea, which owns a majority stake in Line, announced last year the merger as equal partners that will form a joint venture through a tender offer.
Both sides said procedures required under law were getting delayed because of the outbreak.
“Due in part to the impact of the global spread of COVID19, the procedures and measures under the competition laws of some of the countries have not been completed,” their statement said.
A new schedule will be announced as soon as possible, they said.
SALES UPDATE:
— Papa John’s second-quarter comparable sales at domestic-company owned restaurants are up 22.6%. At North America franchised restaurants, the figure is up 29.6%.
The pizza company said Tuesday that almost all traditional restaurants in North America remain open and fully operational. A number of its non-traditional restaurants located in universities and stadiums are temporarily closed. About 225 of its approximately 2,100 international franchised stores remain temporarily closed, mostly in Europe and Latin America, in accordance with government policies.
— Citi Trends, which sells discounted clothing, accessories and home goods at stores in predominantly Black communities, is reporting better-than-expected sales for its second quarter.
The company said Tuesday that total sales are up 25% through June 27 compared with a year ago. Citi Trends has reopened 564 of its 574 stores and anticipates reopening the remaining stores by the end of July.
Comparable store sales for reopened stores from their respective opening dates in the second quarter through June 27 jumped 53%. Citi Trends anticipates fiscal second-quarter total sales will increase in the mid-teens, based on its quarter-to-date performance.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS & BANKS:
— Washington state could make a request for a federal loan as soon as August or September to secure funds by the end of the year in order to keep its unemployment trust fund solvent, according to Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine.
The state’s unemployment trust fund — which had more than $4.7 billion at the start of March — is currently down to $2.8 billion, according to the latest numbers from the agency. Nearly 1.2 million people in Washington state have filed claims for unemployment since early March, when the pandemic job losses began. To date, the state has paid more than $6.5 billion in benefits to more than 875,000 people who filed initial claims. Two thirds of that amount is federal money that is providing the unemployed with an additional $600 a week on top of the state’s weekly maximum benefit of up to $790 per week, the second highest in the nation.
About a dozen states have already been approved by the federal government to receive loans, and several have already received funds, including California, New York and Texas.
— Spanish official statistics show that the country’s gross domestic product contracted 5.2% during the first three months of the year compared to the previous quarter, the biggest drop in at least half a century.
The National Institute of Statistics, or INE, said Tuesday that the economic freeze imposed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus impacted the economy like never before since quarterly records began to be kept in 1970. From January to March 2009, following a global financial meltdown, the country’s GDP shrank by 2.6%.
If the figures for the second quarter are also negative compared to the first, the eurozone’s fourth largest economy will officially enter a recession.
— Bahrain says it will cover 50% of the salaries of private-sector workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The island nation off Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf says the program will begin in July and covers “insured citizens employed in the private sector working for companies most affected by the coronavirus.”
The payments will go on for three months. The kingdom says it will also cover electricity bills at employees’ homes. Like other Gulf Arab nations, Bahrain has a large population of foreign workers. The kingdom’s announcement is among the most significant aid offered that covers those workers.
MARKETS: World stock markets were steady on Tuesday as investors weighed evidence of an economic recovery against a rise in reported coronavirus contagions in some countries.
The post Cinemark to reopen movie theaters, pizza continues to sell appeared first on Morningology.
