Stock Markets Surge in Europe and Asia: Live Updates – The New York Times

Global markets rally as investors think positively.

Global markets surged on Monday as investors looked to signs that the outbreak is peaking in some of the world’s worst-hit places.

European stocks opened more than 2 percent higher after a modest rally in Asia picked up steam later in the day. Futures markets were predicting Wall Street would open higher as well.

Investors looked to official numbers from Europe showing the pace of new confirmed infections and deaths slowing in some places. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Saturday the outbreak there could reach its worst point in coming days. Other officials in the United States suggested the outbreak was peaking in some places even as it flared in others.

Other markets showed improvement. U.S. Treasury bond prices fell in Asian trading. But the price of oil, which generally rises on good economic news, fell amid a continuing spat over supplies between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose 4.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 3.9 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 2.2 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.6 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 2.4 percent in early trading.

In Germany, the DAX index rose 4.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 index was up 3.5 percent early.

European bank regulators were about to run a stress test, hoping to determine whether banks across the continent could survive a serious economic downturn. But then the real thing arrived.

Government officials planned on running their test earlier this year, and it was meant to simulate a 4.3 percent decline in European economic output by 2022. But after the coronavirus outbreak, this so-called worst-case scenario is far from the worst case.

Some economists say that because of the pandemic, the European economy could decline by more than 10 percent just in the first half of this year.

Regulators and central bankers have tried to make the European banking system “crisis-proof” in recent years. But they are now wondering whether these measures will be enough to prevent a financial meltdown of global proportions.

One European regulator said the problem was manageable so far. And banks in other parts of the world where the virus has spread will also struggle. But European banks may be particularly vulnerable because they have never fully recovered from the last big crisis in 2008.

As Saudi Arabia and Russia squabbled over who is to blame for the collapse in oil prices in the coronavirus outbreak, the two countries were set to meet with other major oil producers on Monday in an effort to ease turmoil across the energy markets. But the meeting is now off.

The meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other oil producers was never officially announced but was widely reported on Friday, and its cancellation, confirmed by two OPEC delegates, could affect the markets worldwide on Monday.

Owing to the coronavirus epidemic, demand for oil has dropped precipitously. Led by Saudi Arabia, OPEC had proposed a deal that would trim oil production, but Russia declined to go along with it. More recently, the Saudis increased production while offering discounts to customers.

On Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said Saudi Arabia was at least partly to blame for the price drop, while the Saudis blamed Russia. The two OPEC delegates indicated that further talks were needed before the two sides could agree to a meeting.

These C.E.O.s are placing a big bet. It rhymes with ‘libby.’

What’s it like to launch a new digital product in the midst of a pandemic?

Two veteran business leaders are about to find out.

The coronavirus is spreading, but Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman have stuck with a Monday start date for Quibi, a short-form video app for smartphones that they hope will attract millions of subscribers.

The two have a combined 80 years of experience in leadership roles at some of the nation’s top companies. But they have spent nearly two years in start-up mode, prodding investors to kick in nearly $1.8 billion and bringing aboard producers and stars like Jennifer Lopez, LeBron James, Chance the Rapper, Idris Elba, Chrissy Teigen and more. Now Mr. Katzenberg and Ms. Whitman are ready to unveil their venture.

“This is either going to be a massive home run or a massive swing and miss,” said Michael Goodman, a media analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Quibi, a portmanteau of “quick bites,” will offer movies, reality shows and news programs made for the smartphone, with no installment lasting more than 10 minutes. Its offerings fall into three main categories: movies that will be released in chapters; documentaries and unscripted reality shows; and quick-hit news and sports reports from NBC, BBC, ESPN and others. Fifty shows will be available Monday.

There is, however, the question of how much people are willing to spend on streaming at a time when nearly 10 million people are out of work. Quibi (rhymes with “libby”) announced last month that it would be free for its first three months. After that, the cost will be $5 a month with ads and $8 without.

Congress has earmarked $454 billion for Federal Reserve programs that are meant to keep credit flowing to businesses, states and local governments — money that could help it to fend off a worst-case scenario for the United States economy.

During troubled times, the Fed can lend more or less directly to companies and governments using its emergency authorities. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must sign off on the programs, and the Treasury Department backstops the programs with a layer of financing meant to absorb losses.

The central bank’s actions so far, taken when the Treasury had far less money to provide backup, offer a rough outline of how it might use the new appropriation.

For individuals: Indirectly. The Fed is rolling out one lending program that gives eligible companies cheap loans in exchange for asset-backed securities — basically, bundles of debt — built on newly issued credit card debt, student loans, auto loans and the like. By creating a big incentive, the program should make loans available and cheaper for consumers.

For small businesses: The main support for small business is coming from the Small Business Administration, but the Fed is also taking bundles of business-related loans as collateral for loans, which could help smaller companies access financing. And the central bank’s Main Street Business Lending Program, so far scantly detailed, should help businesses that are too big to qualify for small business loans but too small to have easy access to capital markets.

For big businesses: The Fed has unveiled several programs to help. One will support a type of short-term funding known as commercial paper, and another will buy company debt secondhand. A third program will buy newly issued debt or make direct loans to corporations.

For local governments: The Fed has unveiled programs to help municipal bond markets by allowing banks to use some types of local debt as collateral to access loans. But officials have stopped short of buying local debt outright, and many lawmakers are urging them to think bigger.

Jeanna Smialek, Stanley Reed, Jack Ewing, Carlos Tejada and Daniel Victor contributed to this report.