Its raining cash 💰
Government doles, cruise rides, and starting something new in the pandemic.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary: 😕
US - S&P 500 down 2.5% 🔽
India - Sensex down 0.6% 🔽
Modiji hands out some cake 🍰
The honorable PM in a televised speech last night announced a $270 Billion (Rs. 20 Lakh Crore) stimulus package for India to see the country through the coronavirus pandemic.
While India has been modestly successful in containing the virus so far (as compared to western nations), we’ve accumulated large economic costs along the way as major urban centers remain shut and people lose jobs. A follow on recession could last years and reverse a lot of economic progress we made so far as a nation.
While details remain scant at the moment, the move most definitely:
Injects liquidity (hard cash) into the system, which incentivizes people to spend.
Instills confidence in markets, investors, foreign governments and whoever is watching and signals that India is serious about keeping its economy humming.
Boosts consumer sentiment - Certain loans could be forgiven, EMIs could be pardoned, damage from job losses could be alleviated by giving cash to citizens - all of which ensure full participation and unity of citizens in braving the worst.
One eventual downside though is that of potential high inflation. New money flooded into the system dilutes the value of existing money. India already has a relatively high inflation rate of about 5.84% (which is typical for emerging economies). High inflation could devalue the rupee against the dollar, making it more expensive for consumers to buy necessities.
The PM also emphasized on his focus on making India a self-sufficient nation by ensuring investments in critical infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and other arenas. Embrace for a rocket launch day in stock markets today 🚀
All aboard the floating petri-dish! 🚢
Apparently, Carnival Cruises which is one of the largest cruise ship liners in the world, is all set to make a comeback on 1st August 2020. What’s worse? Only 3 days after the announcement of the August relaunch, Carnival cruise bookings rose by 600%!
Carnival had originally cancelled all of its cruises in mid March following the coronavirus outbreak. There were nearly 360 cases of COVID-19 linked to the cruise ships and at least 6 deaths including staff and passengers, making it a floating petri-dish. We can’t wrap our heads around who’d ever want to step on that thing? Like, ever again?😯
Carnival also operates Diamond Princess, the cruise ship which had one of the biggest outbreaks of the virus outside of China. The US Congress is even actively investigating the company for its mishandling of the outbreaks.
Obviously consumers are not paying full price for these tickets. Because demand dropped, cruise companies were aggressive in dropping prices and pushing huge discounts. For example, passengers can book a cruise in August from Miami for as low as $119 for a four day cruise and the cruise line even offers an 8 day cruise for only $519.
To be honest, we’d pass on the cruise even if it was FREE.
The reduced rates seem to have played a major role in spiking the bookings. The Bookings come as a sign of life for the cruise industry, with stock market promptly looking at cruise stocks favorably. Want our advice? Stay the f*** at home.
Fifth Harmony saw it coming #WFH👩🚀
Even as President Trump says he’s hell bent on getting the American economy back on its feet, most of corporate America is in no rush to get back to offices anytime soon.
Can you really blame em? Who wouldn’t want to work from home with sweatpants on and make occasional trips to the fridge?
A large number of technology companies have now extended mandatory work from home policies to the rest of 2020 so that employees maintain social distancing and don’t turn offices into hotspots of virus transmission.
Google and Facebook employees were told they could telecommute until next year and Amazon mandated working from home till October. Later in the day, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hinted going remote fully for all staff at Twitter.
Nobody knows how the pandemic is going to evolve or if there is light at the end of the tunnel. In times like these people hate being unsure. Even after the pandemic ends (Which we hope happens soon) working from home is likely to maintain a significant presence in corporate life.
It is not surprising that tech companies are at the front ranks of the work-from-home movements as their software promotes working from a distance. On the other hand, businesses like salons, spas, hairdressers need face to face interactions and do not have the luxury of making similar calls. The new normal will be very different.
Time for Some Pandemic Updates -
Almost 33 Million people in the USA have filed for unemployment benefits and it accounts for 20% of the US workforce.
Companies such as Uber, Lyft have announced cuts in recent weeks as travel significantly went down due to the pandemic.
Tamil Nadu saw a surge in coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
State of Goa is set to restart interstate tourism. Tourism accounts for 40% of Goa’s economy.
India having entered the last week of the lock-down and with no hopes of a vaccine yet, PM Modi asked the state CMs to decide the road ahead in a conference call and it was decided that a 4th lock-down was necessary. India's corona count crossed 70,000 yesterday with the situation worsening in Tamil Nadu as 800 people tested positive for COVID-19 in one day.
We think #lockdown4 was inevitable and abiding by social distancing norms is the only way to stay safe.
What else are we Snackin’
🍺 Maharashtra started an e-token system to avoid overcrowding outside liquor stores.
✈️ The Civil Aviation Authority came out with a draft of operating guidelines to begin airline resumption. Highlights include no cabin luggage and no flying for passengers over age of 80
🎮 The Gaming industry has been one of the biggest winners of the pandemic - sales are up, engagement is up, gaming stocks are up
Tweet of the day -
We want to leave you with a tiny bit of inspiration. The world is changing forever. Everything will take a new meaning in the post corona world. While the devastation and economic ruin left in its wake is nothing to be happy about, opportunists might see an amazing chance twinkling in the mayhem.
This is a complete economic reset bestowed upon our generation, and only generations that are lucky get one at all. The last time we got an economic reset like this was perhaps in 2008, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Many of us were too young then, or incapable of doing great things yet. But those that were presented with the chance made the most of it. Companies like WhatsApp, Instagram, Airbnb, Uber, Square, Groupon, Flipkart, and many more were started during this time.
Moreover, many global behemoths like Microsoft, IBM, Disney, Hyatt, HP, FedEx etc. were all started during times when the economic conditions weren’t great. Tough times create tough entrepreneurs, who create resilient companies.
You could use this time to push yourself to do more as well. Go after that dream. Start small. Could be an Instagram page, or an Online store, or a Blog. Doesn’t matter, just get started.
Comment and let us know what you’re going to build. We’re cheering for you! 👇
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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