Masks are the most important thing for the economy now, Fed official says
Wearing masks is more important for the economic recovery at this point than fiscal or monetary policy, according to Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve’s Dallas district.
“If we all wore a mask, it would substantially mute the transmission of this disease and we would grow faster,” the central bank official told Fox Business.
The Fed and Congress have provided unprecedented levels of support for the economy, but Kaplan said making sure the coronavirus is contained now is critical. He expects growth to pick up in the second half, but said halting the disease through mask-wearing is “the primary economic policy.” —Jeff Cox
31 Min Ago
Carnival jumps after saying future demand remains strong
Shares of Carnival surged 9.5% after the cruise operator said it is seeing demand for voyages in 2021, with the majority of bookings being new and not from rescheduling, and will restart voyages from Germany in August. The company also said on a conference call that it can be cash flow break even at a capacity between 30% and 50%, CNBC’s Seema Mody reports. — Jesse Pound
1 Hour Ago
OSHA lacks leadership as the U.S. begins reopening, unions charge
A Tyson Foods employee puts on a second protective mask outside of the company’s meat processing plant, which has been hit by a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.
Jeffrey Becker | USA TODAY NETWORK | REUTERS
Occupational health is a major issue as businesses look to bring workers back, but concerns being played out through a lawsuit highlight worries that there are not strong enough protections in place for workers, CNBC’s Tim Mullaney reports.
Unions, namely the AFL-CIO, have raised red flags with the Trump administration over the leadership of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. The top position at the OSHA has remained unfilled since President Donald Trump took office.
OSHA has issued only one citation for violations of workplace safety laws related to Covid-19, according to its own testimony to Congress. The citation involved a Georgia nursing home that failed to report that a staffer had been hospitalized.
The AFL-CIO has also asked for emergency rules for the pandemic. The dispute between the unions and government over temporary protections has gone into the appeals court system, as the AFL-CIO has asked for an appeal of the original ruling, which sided with OSHA. –Alex Harring
1 Hour Ago
Gilead says remdesivir reduces risk of death in some patients
Gilead Sciences announced new findings on additional clinical benefits of its antiviral drug remdesivir, saying that it cut the risk of death for severely ill coronavirus patients by 62% compared with standard care alone.
The company said the findings come from a comparative analysis of two different cohorts of similar characteristics and disease severity. However, Gilead said its findings warrant further study and independent confirmation.
The findings show that 7.6% of patients treated with remdesivir died compared with 12.5% of patients in the analysis who did not receive remdesivir treatment. The analysis also found that 74.4% of patients who received treatment with remdesivir recovered by day 14 compared with 59% of patients who received standard care alone. —Will Feuer
2 Hours Ago
As many as 1 in 150 people in the U.S. are infected, Dr. Gottlieb estimates
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Getty Images
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” he believes as many as 1 in 150 people in the U.S. are infected with the coronavirus.
“We must have well over 700,000 infections a day, even though we’re only diagnosing about 60,000,” said Gottlieb, who added that when the U.S. had about 20,000 new diagnosed infections per day, about 1 in 200 people were actually believed to be infected. “Now, it must be higher than that.”
Gottlieb said he wishes the U.S. had a more coordinated response to the rising infection levels, suggesting strategies in places like Texas and Florida present risk to states in the Northeast and in Michigan that “sought to crush the virus like the Asian nations, like Western Europe.”
“This is going to be a difficult task for the states that want to try to persevere the gains they made, paying a pretty big sacrifice to crush the virus, to have it not be reimported back into those states in meaningful numbers and see epidemics heading into the fall,” said Gottlieb. —Kevin Stankiewicz
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic-testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina.
2 Hours Ago
Stocks open flat as promising coronavirus treatment news offsets spike in cases
U.S. stocks opened along the flatline as traders weighed positive news about a potential coronavirus treatment and another record spike in virus cases, reports CNBC’s Fred Imbert. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded just 10 points higher, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also flat. —Melodie Warner
3 Hours Ago
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fall in June
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in June as depressed demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic battered the economy.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand dropped 0.2% last month after rebounding 0.4% in May, Reuters reported. In the 12 months through June, the PPI declined 0.8% after decreasing 0.8% in May.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that the PPI would climb 0.4% in June and fall 0.2% on a year-on-year basis. —Melodie Warner
3 Hours Ago
Virus ‘most likely’ transmitted through particles in air, health officials say
The coronavirus is “most likely” transmitted through particles in the air, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Josep Jansa, group leader of response at the ECDC, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that it was “most likely there is potential for aerosol transmission” of Covid-19. He added that the ECDC had never discarded this as a possibility, and said there was evidence the coronavirus had spread more easily in closed environments or when people participated in activities like choir singing.
The World Health Organization said this week it is reviewing new evidence on whether Covid-19 can spread through particles in the air.
The ECDC, which expects coronavirus cases to begin to rise again in Europe in coming months, recommends wearing face coverings, combined with other prevention measures, to mitigate the spread of the disease.
“It has to be a combination because using masks and putting that as the main and central measure can bring this false sense of safety,” Jansa told CNBC. “(People think) ‘while I’m using a mask I don’t need to do anything else,’ and that’s not the case. So, clear ventilation of spaces, respiratory etiquette, together with the other measures, that’s the way forward.” —Chloe Taylor
4 Hours Ago
Italy PM says state of emergency likely to extend beyond July 31
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has warned that the country will likely need to extend its state of emergency beyond the current deadline of July 31.
The prospect of an extension means Italy will be able to remain “in a position to continue taking the necessary measures,” Conte said, according to Reuters.
The euro zone’s third-largest economy had declared a six-month state of emergency at the end of January, paving the way for the government to act quickly to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
Italy has recorded over 240,000 cases of the coronavirus, with 34,926 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. —Sam Meredith
4 Hours Ago
Nevada to reimplement restrictions on bars
A Nevada Highway Patrol officer directs vehicles as they wait in line on streets around Boulder Station Hotel & Casino to get into a drive-thru Three Square Food Bank emergency food distribution site in response to an increase in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 29, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
David Becker | AFP via Getty Images
Nevada plans to reshutter bars in certain counties with growing outbreaks, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced.
The order, which has not yet been issued, would take effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sisolak said late Thursday. He added that the order will reimplement restrictions similar to those seen under phase one of the state’s reopening plan in which they were allowed to remain open for curbside pickup.
“We know COVID-19 can easily spread when people are congregating for long periods of time,” Sisolak said in a tweet. “Recently, Dr. Fauci, the US’s top infectious-disease expert, advised congregating in bars is one of the most dangerous things people could do. We must heed his advice.” —Will Feuer
Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: India sees record daily rise in cases, Hong Kong to close all schools
