Stock market today: Dow drops 400 points as stocks close out their worst first quarter ever

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 410.32 points lower, or 1.8%, at 21,917.16. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% to 2,584.59. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1% to 7,700.10. The 30-stock benchmark was up as much as 152 points earlier in the day.



The
Dow and S&P 500 had their worst first-quarter performances ever,
losing 23.2 and 20%, respectively. The Dow also had its worst overall
quarter since 1987 while the S&P 500 had its biggest quarterly loss
since 2008.

Read more at: Stock market today: Dow drops 400 points as stocks close out their worst first quarter ever

The Netherlands extends anti-corona measures to April 28, at least

Special measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands are to be extended until April 28 at least, prime minister Mark Rutte told a press conference on Tuesday. This means cafes, restaurants, museums and schools will remain shut for the next four weeks. The decision has been taken on the basis of expert advice, the prime minister said. ‘We realise we are asking a lot of people, but it is really necessary,’ Rutte said. ‘The capacity in hospitals and intensive care units leaves us with no other choice.’ ‘The good news is that we don’t have to bring in extra measures,’ the prime minister said. Measures currently in

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

Special measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands are to be extended until April 28 at least, prime minister Mark Rutte told a press conference on Tuesday. This means cafes, restaurants, museums and schools will remain shut for the next four weeks.

The decision has been taken on the basis of expert advice, the prime minister said. ‘We realize we are asking a lot of people, but it is really necessary,’ Rutte said. ‘The capacity in hospitals and intensive care units leaves us with no other choice.’ ‘The good news is that we don’t have to bring in extra measures,’ the prime minister said.

Measures currently in  effect, these measure means that schools will be closed until May 3, because the May school holidays start on April 25. Parents considering booking a holiday during the Easter or May break should not do so, the prime minister said.

‘There is a very real chance that we will have to extend the measures past April 28,’ Rutte said. ‘We don’t want people to travel all over the country, and after April 28 we certainly won’t be back the way we were.’ All sports events, including premier league football, are also cancelled until at least June 1, the current deadline for the ban on organized events.

Read more at: The Netherlands extends anti-corona measures to April 28, at least - DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands - US Relations: Florida governor: sick passengers on cruise ship cannot be 'dumped' here "as a result Fort Lauderdale could be branded world-wide as an inhumane tourist destination"

The Florida Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has said passengers on a coronavirus-stricken cruise trip cannot be “dumped” in his state, casting further doubt over where two vessels carrying hundreds of people will be a two vessels carrying hundreds of people will be allowed to dock.

Two people have tested positive for the disease and dozens are ill with flu-like symptoms on the Zaandam luxury cruise liner, which has not been able to dock after several Latin American countries closed their ports in response to the global pandemic.

Hundreds of North American, Australia, Dutch and British citizens are in isolation in their rooms and a boat-to-boat operation is underway to move some healthy travellers to a sister ship, the Rotterdam, over the weekend.

But there are fears that sick, elderly passengers and crew members will be left stranded at sea during a global pandemic, with some on board isolating in small, humid cabins with no natural light or fresh air.
Holland America Line, which owns the cruise ship, confirmed on Friday that four elderly passengers had died onboard. It is not clear whether they died after catching Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, four of our fellow guests have passed away – one last night, two yesterday and one a few days ago,” the ship’s captain Captain Jan Smit said in an announcement, which was obtained by The Guardian. “We are still seeing both guests and crew with symptoms reporting to the medical center. The situation continues to grow more challenging each day.”

Both ships are presently on their way to Fort Lauderdale.

Note EU-Digest: Both Ships - the Zaandam and the Rotterdam use Fort Lauderdale as their cruise base and all passengers on the ships boarded in Fort Lauderdale before any US travel restriction were issued. 

Florida  Governor Ron DeSantis better realize that if he does not allow all passengers of these cruise ships to disembark in Fort Lauderdale, so they can be properly taken care of and treated, that Florida will be branded around the world as an inhumane tourist destination.  

EU-Digest

The Netherlands - Coroanvirus: Holland recalls 600,000 masks imported from China

The Dutch Ministry of Health said on Saturday that it asked hospitals to return 600,000 face masks after they failed to meet safety requirements.

Read more at: 
https://www.businessinsider.com/coroanvirus-holland-recalls-over-half-a-million-masks-imported-from-china-2020-3

Turkey - Coronavarus: Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises to 108 as confirmed cases total 7,402

A total of 70 patients have recovered from COVID-19 and discharged from hospitals since the beginning of the outbreak on March 11, according to the ministry's data, which said 445 patients remained in treatment at intensive care units.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Friday announced new measures to combat the spread of the virus, including the suspension of all overseas flights have been and intercity travel  by permit obtained from governorates.

Recreational sites will be closed during weekends, and large groups will not be allowed in on weekdays. The governors of Turkey’s 30 largest cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, were granted greater powers to implement the limitations, Erdoğan announced.

Erdoğan also said that the public and private sectors will switch to a flexible working system with minimum personnel. Soldiers coming in or leaving the army will have to comply with the 14-day quarantine rule, he said.

Read more at: Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises to 108 as confirmed cases total 7,402 - live blog | Ahval

EU -The Netherlands: Dutch Exceptionalism: Will Holland's Looser Corona Policies Pay Off?

Off?

One EU country after the other is moving to restrict public life. The Dutch government has opted for less drastic measures, hoping for herd immunity and relying on the common sense of its people. But the country has still had to make adjustments to its policies.

The Big Bazar in Winterswijk is, as usual, full of "Big Deals!" despite the coronavirus. Plastic footballs, clothespins for hanging laundry, flower pots and various other things are for sale at the store in the Dutch border town. There’s a stand with jackets in front of the clothing shop next door and the drug store Kruidvat across the street has a special offer on creme. People seem relaxed as they stroll through the pedestrian zone and there's not a face mask to be seen. If you visited Winterswijk last Saturday, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the pandemic doesn’t even exist here. But just 10 kilometers away, in the town of Vreden on the German side of the border, almost all the stores have been closed for several days.

Opposition politicians in the Netherlands have been highly critical of the strategy. "Many Dutch people feel like they are being made part of a big experiment,” Lodwijk Asscher, the head of the country’s center-left Social Democratic Party has said. Right-wing radical politician Geert Wilders has said: "Rutte is playing Russian roulette with our people. Many people will get sick as a result. People will die.” Scientists believe that 60 to 70 percent of the population would have to come into contact with the virus to achieve herd immunity, the equivalent of more than 10 million Dutch people. Even with a low mortality among the young and the fittest, this would mean thousands of deaths. And the health system would soon be at its limits.

Read more: Dutch Exceptionalism: Will Holland's Looser Corona Policies Pay Off? - DER SPIEGEL

Food Shortages - Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns

Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.

Harvests have been good and the outlook for staple crops is promising, but a shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, told the Guardian.

“The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food,” he said. “All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world.”

Read more at: Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns | Global development | The Guardian