Retailers face reckoning as April's sales drop sets a record
The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Friday related to national and global response, the work place and the spread of the virus.
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TEUTONIC SHIFT: Germany — Europe's biggest economy — drifted into a recession in the first quarter as shutdowns there and beyond started to bite. The 2.2% decline in the first three months of the year was the second-biggest quarterly decline since Germany was reunited in 1990, exceeded only by a 4.7% drop in the first quarter of 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
FACTORIES RUNNING: China factory output rose 3.9% in April from a year earlier, an improvement over the previous month’s 1.1% contraction. China’s virus-battered economy is reopening, but job losses depressed consumer spending, a key driver of growth, challenging the ruling Communist Party effort to revive normal activity.
FACTORIES IDLED: American industry suffered the most severe plunge on record last month with factories, mines and utilities battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federal Reserve said Friday that its industrial production index tumbled a record 11.2% in April. Manufacturing output also posted a record drop — 13.7% — as production of cars, trucks and auto parts plummeted more than 70%. Production of aerospace and other transportation products, metals and furniture fell around 20%. Output dropped 6.1% at mines and 0.9% at utilities.
SHOPPERS STAY HOME: U.S. retail sales tumbled by a record 16.4% from March to April as business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus kept shoppers away, threatened the viability of stores across the country and further weighed down a sinking economy.
Office Depot unveiled a restructuring plan...
