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Coronavirus update:

April 29, 2020 COVID-19 pandemic map
Source

3,139,415 confirmed infections, up from 3,061,521 yesterday.
218,456 confirmed deaths, up from 212,083 yesterday.

The U.S. Hits 1 Million Coronavirus Cases, One-Third Of All The World’s Cases

US could be in for ‘a bad fall and a bad winter’ if it’s unprepared for a second wave of coronavirus, Fauci warns

Relevant COVID-19 stories:


Politics:

Trump issues Executive Order forcing meat packing plants to stay open or re-open, citing DPA.

Trump to order meat plants to stay open in pandemic

Justin Amash forms exploratory committee for third-party presidential run

Relevant Politics stories:


Economy Update:

Editorial: US GDP fell 4.8 percent in the first quarter, which is really bad since we didn't shut down businesses until March.

That figure could be 3x higher. Or worse. In July, when we're still sheltered in place, let's see what the Q2 figure is. I bet it's FAR WORSE than 4.8 percent.

I hope I'm wrong.

April 29, 2020 DJIA stock chart
Source

The Dow is up about 400, hitting the mid-24k range.

Upcoming economic reports this week:

  • Last Friday – Consumer sentiment index – DOWN from 89 in March to 71.8 (down from 101 in February)
  • Tuesday – Case-Shiller home price index up to 4.2 percent (reporting period is for FEBRUARY) from 3.9 percent, Consumer confidence index down to 86.9 from 118.8 (April reporting period)
  • Wednesday – Gross domestic product – down 4.8 percent in Q1, Jerome Powell press conference @ 2:30pm
  • Thursday – Initial jobless claims, Consumer spending, Core inflation
  • Friday – Motor vehicle sales (annual rate)

Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/calendars/economic

Relevant Economy stories:

Learn how to turn your hobbies into hustles – check out Gig Economics.


Offbeat Story of the Day:

Editorial: I'm leaving this one here because it got a ton of play last week and over the weekend. I even lost a few friends over it because they believe him. I don't know which stance they believe (that he was spit-balling solutions, he was being serious, he was being sarcastic), but they believe him.

This is, of course, proof that Trumplodytes are members of a cult.

“Give me Biden or give me bleach!”

Don't inject disinfectants, Lysol warns as Trump raises idea 3

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s health department fielded hundreds of calls from residents asking about ingesting disinfectants after President Donald Trump wondered aloud if that could fight COVID-19, Gov Larry Hogan said Sunday.

The Republican governor spoke about the emergency hotline calls and Trump’s offhand comment during appearances on CBS’ “Face The Nation” and ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning. On Friday, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency tweeted a “reminder” that under no circumstances should any disinfectant be injected or ingested.

Hogan said “communicating very clearly on the facts” has been important to him since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“I think when misinformation comes out or you just say something that pops in your head, it does send a wrong message. We had hundreds of calls come into our emergency hotline at our health department asking if it was right to ingest Clorox or alcohol cleaning products, whether that was going to help them fight the virus,” he said during his ABC appearance.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Trump said research was underway into the effect that disinfectants have on the virus and questioned if they could be injected into people.

“Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Trump asked. “Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

The White House accused the media of misrepresenting the president’s comments. Trump said he had been speaking sarcastically.

Hogan said Trump needs to “stick to a message and make sure that these press conferences are fact-based.”

“I think other people in the administration have been trying to make that clear to him, as well,” he added.

Source

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