Jan 9, 2017

Big in Business

1) GM CEO Mary Barra stands up to the Tweeter-in-Chief

Barra kicked off the Detroit Auto Show by pushing back against Trump's criticism of GM importing its Chevy Cruz model from Mexico. The Wall Street Journal quotes Barra as arguing that these sorts of decisions are carefully made over long time horizons and can't be abandoned on a dime.

Chrysler Fiat, meanwhile, made a show of a planned $1 billion invest in its U.S. production capacity.

2) Analyst: The job market will only get better from here

Expect job growth to rise above a monthly pace of 200,000, argues Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a research note. That's enough to force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rate at their next meeting in March, in an effort to head off subsequent higher inflation.

3) Markets prep for a "hard" Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May told Sky News this weekend that closing its borders to EU immigrants means losing access to the coveted European single market. The pound fell to the lowest level since October on the news, as traders expect British companies to suffer.

4) What to watch for today:

Markets are convinced recent Fed minutes have suggested a cautious approach to further interest rate hikes. Bond traders will be keeping a close eye at 9 a.m. on the minutes released by Fed Governor Eric Rosengren. He has favored low rates in the past.

Go deeper

Axios

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 2 a.m. ET: 859,796 — Total deaths: 42,332 — Total recoveries: 178,300.
U.S.: Leads the world in confirmed cases. Total confirmed cases as of 2 a.m. ET: 189,618 — Total deaths: 4,079 — Total recoveries: 7,109.
Business updates: Should you pay your rent or mortgage during the coronavirus pandemic? Find out if you are protected under the CARES Act.
Public health updates: More than 400 long-term care facilities across the U.S. report patients with coronavirus — Older adults and people with underlying health conditions are more at risk, new data shows.
Federal government latest: President Trump said the next two weeks would be "very painful," with projections indicating the virus could kill 100,000–240,000 Americans.
Coronavirus in custody: Inmates in all U.S. federal prisons are set to enter a 14-day quarantine on April 1. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release 10 detained immigrants who are at risk of contracting COVID-19 while in confinement.
U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt: Captain of nuclear aircraft carrier docked in Guam pleaded with the U.S. Navy for more resources after more than 100 members of his crew tested positive.
What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

Subscribe to Mike Allen's Axios AM to follow our coronavirus coverage each morning from your inbox.

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NYC races to build field hospitals as coronavirus death toll tops 1,000

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The big picture: The city now accounts for a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. — more than 1,000 as of Wednesday morning. De Blasio said the city had "about 20,000 working hospital beds in our major hospitals" before the outbreak. "We now need to, in just the next weeks ... produce three times that number," he said.

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 4,000 people in the U.S. — with over 1,000 deaths reported in New York City alone, per Johns Hopkins data. The number of deaths are still much lower than those reported in Italy, Spain and China.

Of note: Hours earlier, President Trump noted it's "going to be a very painful two weeks," with projections indicating the novel coronavirus could kill 100,000–240,000 Americans — even with strict social distancing guidelines in place. "They are going to be facing a war zone," he said of medical workers.

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