COVID-19 Monitor

Last Updated:October 15, 2020

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Covid-19 has strained Canada’s relations with America (The Economist) Published on: July 30, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

America would like Canada to reopen, but with covid-19 spreading fast in most American states, Canadians are less keen. Justin Trudeau, their prime minister, has tried to avoid confronting Donald Trump.
In June only 64,000 American residents entered Canada by road, compared with 1.6m a year before, a drop of 96%.
The bipartisan Northern Border Caucus of 29 Congress members has called on Canada to allow Americans to visit holiday homes they own north of the border. They also want a “comprehensive framework” towards reopening.

Private equity gags on its own medicine in contentious debt battles (FT) Published on: July 30, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

In a wave of company restructurings following the coronavirus crisis, Apollo Global Management and other traditional private equity groups have appealed to the courts to complain about the behaviour of rival creditors.
Reaching for new funds to see it through the pandemic, mattress company Serta Simmons Bedding took $200m in new loans from a slim majority of creditors who, in addition to putting in the fresh money, saw their existing loans move up in seniority in the capital structure.
Some insiders note fundamental changes in the ecosystem beyond just the evolution of asset managers. Big Wall Street banks are no longer large holders of leveraged loans, and are also less active as loan “agents”, the administrator for paper who sometimes act as mediator or traffic cop.
Also different this time, debt lacking onerous covenants has soared. According to data compiled by Moody’s, its index of high-yield bond covenant quality has been below its “weakest-level protection” threshold since late 2014.

How to Inoculate Your Team Against Conspiracy Theories (HBR) Published on: July 30, 2020 | Category: Leadership

Around the world, conspiracy theories have flourished, claiming that the virus is everything from a hostile attack, a hoax perpetuated by Big Pharma, or even a side effect of 5G networks.
Specifically, we found that individuals with a “promotion-focused” mindset (i.e., those who tend to focus on achieving their goals and aspirations) are more resistant to conspiracy theories than those with a “prevention-focused” mindset (i.e., those who focus on protecting what they already have), because the promotion focus on shaping their own futures involves a greater sense of control.
So, if a greater sense of control makes people less vulnerable to conspiracy theories, what can we do in a time of widespread uncertainty to help ourselves — and those around us — feel that sense of structure and control without resorting to conspiracies? Our work suggests a few strategies.

Should young children wear face masks? Health experts are divided (The Globe and Mail) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

The report follows a guidance document released last month by the Hospital for Sick Children that was criticized by educators and some epidemiologists for not consulting more widely and for failing to demand more safety measures, such as masking and strict physical distancing.
The updated document was a collaborative effort between SickKids, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, London Health Sciences Centre, McMaster Children’s Hospital and Unity Health.
The report also said that the use of masks in schools is “complex and nuanced” and there is limited data on their effectiveness but there “remains a theoretical benefit especially for older children and youth.”
The use of masks in classrooms has become the subject of a fierce debate across the country, and interestingly, the document noted that there wasn’t a full agreement among the contributors on the need and role of students wearing masks.

Coronavirus relief talks hit impasse on Capitol Hill (Washington Post) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Negotiations on a new coronavirus relief bill hit an impasse on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, leaving no clear path forward even as millions of Americans face a sudden drop in unemployment benefits, and the economy teeters on the brink.
After a day of meetings, all parties declared their differences all but irreconcilable.
More than 20 million Americans remain unemployed and have been receiving a $600 weekly emergency unemployment payment that Congress approved in March, on top of whatever benefit their state offers. That extra federal benefit runs out Friday.

Breaking down Shopify’s ‘blowout’ quarter (The Logic) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Canadian Business, Global Response

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, swarms of brick-and-mortar retailers are shifting their business online for the first time—a trend that’s helped Shopify nearly double its revenues in the second quarter.
The company’s record-high revenue coincides with its rollout of new products and services to help merchants beef up their sales pipelines during the pandemic. “I cannot recall a time in our history when we’ve shipped so many features in such a short period of time,” said COO Harley Finkelstein on Wednesday’s earnings call.
US$153 million: The amount of funding deployed through Shopify Capital, the firm’s small-business loan initiative, in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. The spending represents a 65 per cent increase over the second quarter last year, at which time Shopify Capital was only available to U.S. merchants.

COVID-19 and the surge of “buy now, pay later” (Cardify) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

While the US “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) market is still in its infancy, it has experienced a 197% YoY GMV increase (ending Q2 2020).
COVID-19 had little impact on the demographics of BNPL users. BNPL usage continues to skew to a younger, female demographic, which is likely due to the fact that BNPL providers have thus far focused primarily on partnerships with female focused ecommerce brands.
While some consumers appear to use BNPL when experiencing high credit saturation, many others appear to use the offering as an alternative to having a credit card, or simply for preference. Across our panel, 75%+ of customers choosing to use BNPL for payment have the funds to cover the full cost of purchase.

FedEx Pilots Seek to Halt Hong Kong Operations Over Tighter Covid-19 Rules (WSJ) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Global Response

Pilots for FedEx have asked the U.S. courier to suspend Hong Kong operations, saying the city’s tightened measures to contain its biggest outbreak of coronavirus infections are unacceptable for the company’s pilots.
Several FedEx pilots who had tested negative for Covid-19 were required to stay in quarantine in government facilities because they had been in close contact with an infected person, Mr. Chase said.
This month, two U.S. airlines canceled flights to and from Hong Kong over mandatory testing and quarantine for aircrew, which they said caused too much delay and disrupted flight schedules.

Retailers and landlords do battle over the future of leases (FT) Published on: July 29, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact

Across the world, the pandemic has unleashed a high-stakes debate over whether rents should be fixed or linked to some measure of how a tenant’s business is performing.
As rising infections in the US threaten more crippling lockdowns, fashion chain Urban Outfitters is among a growing number of retailers calling for variable leases to help them weather the pandemic.
For some property companies, the scale of the calamity that has engulfed their tenants means rewriting lease agreements and sharing the pain is necessary.

Fed Extends Emergency Lending Programs by Three Months (WSJ) Published on: July 28, 2020 | Category: Economic Impact, Global Response

In a statement, the Fed said that the extension of the programs, through Dec. 31, would “facilitate planning by potential facility participants and provide certainty that the facilities will continue to be available to help the economy recover.”
When policy makers announced the programs in March, analysts hoped the virus might be brought under control by the summer.
The programs serve two main functions. A few are playing a classic lender-of-last-resort function, allowing the Fed to flood short-term funding markets—the plumbing of modern finance—with loans.
The second category of programs are designed to support lending for an array of credit markets, including debts of large, investment-grade corporations and short-term borrowing for more than 250 state and municipal governments.

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