Some more details of employees in the media business who are being furloughed.

The publisher of The Week, Dennis Publishing, will put 130 on leave.

No10 has released more information about the effort to make 30,000 medical ventilators, including that there are seven separate projects underway.

They include:

• Ventilator Challenge UK, which is a vast consortium of firms including Airbus, Ford and Rolls-Royce
• New prototype machines by engineer Dyson and defence firm Babcock, imports from overseas by companies including Inspiration Healthcare
• A ramped-up production effort by specialist firm Breas UK, and
• “Project Pitlane”, a collaboration Formula 1 teams, some of whom are also part of Ventilator Challenge UK. The F1 teams revealed details of Project Pitlane in a press release today.
  

The NHS already has 8,175 ventilators and is expecting 8,000 more within weeks, on the way to a target of producing 30,000.

The FTSE 100 has provisionally closed down by 5.45% at 5,498 points.

And it’s worth checking in on the pound. Already on course for a strong week yesterday, it is now up against the US dollar by 1.8%, hitting highs of $1.2424. It started the day below $1.22!

The pound has recovered from historically weak levels against the dollar as the funding squeeze that rattled markets has eased. The dollar index against a trade-weighted basket of currencies is back where it was on 17 March.

Fast fashion retailer Quiz has become the latest to close its website because of concerns over the health of workers in its warehouses.

The company will close its websites from later today, after shutting its shops on 22 March. Here’s the snippet from its statement:

Having taken feedback from the Group’s employees working at QUIZ’s distribution centre, and in order to prioritise their safety and wellbeing, the Board has now taken the decision to temporarily close its online operations until further notice. QUIZ’s websites will temporarily close from later today, with the distribution centre closing within the next 24 hours.

There’s no detail in the statement on the status of the workers, although it is likely they will be covered by the government’s guarantee that it will pay 80% of wages for staff who are furloughed rather than made redundant.

Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, is self-isolating for the next seven days after experiencing symptoms of coronavirus last night.

You can follow more news from the UK here:

The boss of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that it is critical to protect workers and keep companies out of bankruptcy in order to enable a quick economic recovery.

Kristaline Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said that the fiscal response to the coronavirus pandemic was bigger than that directed towards the global financial crisis. The recover will be staggered as countries face outbreaks at different stages, she said.

The IMF has received a large number of requests for assistance from countries, she told CNBC.

Georgieva highlighted the pressures particularly on emerging market economies - who are likely to suffer the double blow of dealing with their own infection responses at the same time that their exports have suffered. They will need as much as $2.5tn.

She expects the recovery to take hold in 2021, but only if the virus can be contained.

Virgin Atlantic, the airline founded by the billionaire Richard Branson, is going to ask the government for a big bailout, the Financial Times has reported.

The coronavirus crisis has proven to be devastating for the airline industry, with no cash coming in. Regional carrier Flybe has already gone down because of the slump in air travel caused by the pandemic, but the government has said it will not bail out the whole industry.

Here’s a snippet from the FT’s report (£):

Virgin Atlantic will in the coming days ask the UK for a package of commercial loans and guarantees worth hundreds of millions of pounds, as the carrier battles the aviation industry’s worst crisis in decades, according to people familiar with the matter.

A bailout of a company so closely linked to a billionaire would be deeply controversial - indeed, it already was controversial when Flybe, bought by a consortium backed by Branson, was offered assistance.

Branson has already pledged to inject £250m of his own money into Virgin companies, including the airline, but the report suggests even bigger struggles for the loss-making Atlantic arm, just a few months after Branson put on a brave face in an interview with the Observer:

We are survivors. And it’s got the advantage of other Virgin companies: if the worst comes to the worst we can help it out, occasionally.

And it’s Jasper Jolly here taking over from Graeme Wearden through to the close of European markets again.

Markets on both sides of the Atlantic are steeped in red ink, with Wall Street down over 3% and Europe nursing 4% losses.

There’s anxiety over the global recession, not helped by the slump in Chinese factory profits overnight.

The latest spike in US Covid-19 infections, taking America over China in the league table no-one wants to top, is also worrying investors.

Especially as Donald Trump sounds determined to get the economy moving soon - despite medical advice that physical distancing is the best way to beat the virus.

Gaurav Saroliya of Oxford Economics argues that the selloff has further to run:

First, COVID-19 incidence is accelerating in the US, rather than being contained. After more than 16000 new cases yesterday, the US has now the highest number of cases globally. The idea that the country can swiftly return to normal levels of economic activity appears unrealistic.

Secondly, the uncertainty about the extent and length of the shutdowns translates into large uncertainty about the eventual hit to growth and corporate profits

Brewery chain Young & Co have announced they’re putting almost all their 4,500 staff on temporary leave.

As ‘furloughed workers’, they should be entitled to 80% of their pay from the UK government. Just 29 ‘key workers’ will carry on working from home while this crisis continues and the Group’s pubs are closed.

The UK wage pledge is worth up to £2,500 per month. Youngs, though, is pledging to keep paying higher earners (on more than £30k) 80% of their pay - at least during April.

The board has also decided not to pay a final dividend for the financial year to 30 March 2020, as it tries to conserve cash.

Oil pries are sinking -- a sign of pessimism over global growth.

It’s turning into a Fretful Friday.

Stocks are sliding further in Europe, driving the FTSE 100 down almost 5.75% or 334 points at 5482 points.

Every member of the blue-chip index is lower, led by cruise operator Carnival and retailer Next (which shut its online shop last night).

That still leaves the Footsie higher than on Tuesday, but it does show that this week’s recovery is rather fragile.

Germany’s DAX has lost 3.8% while France’s CAC is 4.4% lower, as traders brace for losses when Wall Street opens....

The oil industry is also cutting roles, as energy firms try to isolate workers and combat Covid-19.

My colleague Jillian Ambrose explains:

North Sea’s workforce has fallen by 40% within two weeks as oil companies cut the size of their offshore oil rig teams to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

More than 4,000 rig contractors have lost their jobs in the wake of the UK lockdown, during a difficult year for the oil industry after the collapse of global oil prices.

The number of workers operating the North Sea’s oil and gas platforms typically stands at about 11,500, according to Oil and Gas UK, but the number of people operating the rigs has already fallen to 7,000.

I mentioned earlier that John Menzies had cut its global headcount by 17,500...... but the good news is that it’s a temporary move, and most of those employees haven’t actually been laid off.

Instead, it’s mostly staff being sent on different kinds of leave, the company tells us -- with only small portion of roles permanently cut.

They’re hoping to get “the vast majority” of staff back when flight volumes start to pick up again. In the meantime, government schemes such as the UK’s offer to pay 80% of wages should kick in. A small relief!

Metro Bank has become the latest lender to announce it’s waiving interest charges on arranged overdrafts.
The temporary measure will be backdated to 1 March and be in place for four months until 30 June. It means any personal banking customers who’s already been charged for dipping into their overdraft in recent weeks will be automatically reimbursed. Metro is also shutting its branches on weekends - which is a pretty big shift for a bank that prides itself on being open 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

A spokeswoman for the lender said:

“Making this change will enable us to free up more colleagues to support essential services in our contact centres.

“We apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause, however customers can continue to bank with us online, via our mobile app or over the phone.”

The pound dipped a little, after Boris Johnson confirmed he has tested positive for Covid-19.

It’s only a small move -- sterling dropped from nearly $1.23 back to $1.22, as traders digested the news.

Johnson insists he’s still leading the government, and hopefully his symptoms will remain mild. But I guess it may have unnerved some investors, as this is the first G20 leader to test positive.

It’s a reminder, too, that coronavirus cases will continue to rise in the weeks ahead.

The PM is getting plenty of support too, including from his former chancellor:

And the president of the European Council:

The economics team at Nomura have slashed their forecast for the global economy this year, again.

They now expect world GDP to shrunk by 4% during 2020 -- with major economies including the UK contracting by over 10% in April-June (a really grim, and highly credible, forecast)

We have slashed our 2020 forecast of global GDP growth to -4.0% and now expect %q-o-q saar growth in Q2 of -42% in the US, -43% in the euro area and -44% in the UK - all similar to that in China in Q1.

[SAAR = seasonally adjusted annual rate, ie how much an economy would change if one quarter was extended over a year]

In a best case scenario, Nomura reckon the world economy would only shrink by 2.2% -- but in a bad outcome, it could slump by 6.9%.

In the good scenario, the virus is quickly beaten through strict compliance with social distancing, technological innovations and medical breakthroughs. The result is still a short, deep recession, but it is followed by a sustained recovery.

In the bad scenario, the virus beats us. The intravenous cash flow support policies do not last long enough to save companies and jobs. The result is a large, permanent loss in output featuring persistently high unemployment, company liquidations and financial crise.

Engineering firm Rolls-Royce has been running its UK facilities until now but says it will cease “all but essential activity” for a week, starting at midnight tonight.

Staff will continue to be paid.

Activities that support the military, air freight and airlines still running flights will continue, the company said.

Just in: The prime minister has contracted the coronavirus.

Fortunately Boris Johnson says he only has mild symptoms. He’ll be self-isolating as he continues to work, to “lead the government’s response to coronavirus”

Outsourcing group Capita has just withdrawn its financial guidance for the year, due to the “unpredictable level of disruption caused by COVID-19”.

While Capita’s essential workers in the public sector are busy, the rest of its business has been hit by self-isolation rules. That includes work training programmes, back office functions, contact centres for retail and leisure clients, consulting and its corporate travel agency.

The firm is now engaged in some “prudent” cost savings, including pay cuts for top bosses:

• Central overhead costs will be reduced to the bare minimum whilst ensuring operational oversight and regulatory compliance are maintained.
• Discretionary expenditure has been materially reduced, specifically in areas such as travel, marketing, non-essential training and recruitment.
• We have temporarily closed a number of our offices around the UK which are not required for the provision of essential services and are planning to move rent payments to a monthly in advance basis (from quarterly).
• We have reduced the number of contractors we use by reallocating and prioritising internal resources.
• Significant temporary reductions of salary by senior management and the Board

Capita says it’s also working with the government to develop coronavirus testing sites.

The slump in housing activity has forced online estate agent Rightmove to cancel its 2019 dividend, and to suspend all financial guidance for 2020. More here

European stock markets are all in the red today, after their best three day rally ever.

The Stoxx 600 index has dropped around 2.4%, having surged by 15% between Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.

In London, the FTSE 100 has fallen further, down 223 points or almost 4% (but it’s still up over 7% this week).

With coronavirus cases and deaths still rising -- with the US overtaking China for infections - investors may be fretting about what the next few days will bring.

They may also have noticed that four of the last Mondays have seen heavy selling - so it may make sense to hunker down today.

Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst, OANDA Europe says:

Rallies don’t last forever and clearly investors are happy to call time on this one as we head into another uncertain weekend.

The last three Monday’s have all been relatively heavy down days, producing an average decline of 5.16% in the FTSE 100. We may have had a good run this week but the weekend can feel like a long time at moments like this and the numbers were getting from the US, which now has more cases than China or Italy, are getting uglier by the day.

It therefore strikes me as quite sensible to take some profit off the table and see how the weekend goes. I fear a few more shocks lie ahead as we get closer to peak coronavirus in countries like the US, UK and more.

Domino’s Pizza has also suspended its dividend today, despite seeing a pick-up in demand from people ordering home deliveries.

In the last week, UK trading has accelerated, with the growth in delivery more than offsetting the lack of collection sales, it told the City.

CEO David Wild says Domino’s is being cautious, having closed its stores to help with coronavirus isolation measures.

The safety of our colleagues and customers is always our top priority, so we’ve strengthened our already high hygiene standards, rolled out contact free delivery and switched to delivery only to ensure we can confidently serve the public. We are also looking to recruit additional store colleagues and delivery drivers.

Getting back to the slump in Chinese factory profits....economist Shane Oliver of AMP Capital has spotted signs that China’s economy may now be recovering:

Here’s our news story on Mike Ashley’s apology for mishandling the Covid-19 crisis, and his efforts to make amends....

Speaking of dividends... betting firm Flutter has suspended its 2020 payment to shareholders this morning.

The company, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair, blamed the cancellation of sports events around the globe.

Royal Mail has warned that it could be forced to reduce postal services, due to the impact of the coronavirus.

It told shareholders this morning:

In recent weeks, we have seen rising levels of sick absence as colleagues self-isolate or care for family members. W e cannot rule out reductions to services as COVID-19 develops.

Royal Mail also warned that its UK parcels, international and letters (UKPIL) business will be materially loss making in the 2020-21 financial year, while profits at its European parcels division GLS will be “significantly reduced”.

So, it’s joining the army of companies cancelling this year’s dividend payment.

UK retailer Next is also among the top fallers in London, down 7.9%, after it halted online shopping last night.

Next told the City that it had responded to employees, who told it they weren’t happy about being dragged to work rather than isolating.

NEXT has listened very carefully to its colleagues working in Warehousing and Distribution Operations to fulfil Online orders. It is clear that many increasingly feel they should be at home in the current climate.

We flagged up earlier this week that Next had been offering a 20% bonus to staff who would come into stores and fulfil online orders, despite Very Clear Instructions from the government to Stay At Home unless your job is Essential.

Some retailers took longer to grasp this than others.

Retail analyst Nick Bubb says:

Well, the shock news that Next has had to temporarily close down its Online business because of warehouse staffing problems is a big blow to the company and may cause a domino effect on other Online fashion operators, including ASOS and Boohoo…

Shares in UK housebuilders are among the top fallers, with Berkeley Group down 8% and Barratt Development losing 8.5%.

Last night, the government effectively put the UK housing market into deep freeze, telling buyers to delay their home moves if possible, and instructing sellers not to allow new viewings.

The new guidance is “adapt and be flexible” while the Covid-19 pandemic plays out. Ministers don’t actually want people to cancel moves, but clearly the market is going to be slow for a while....

....especially as some lenders are pulling mortgage offers: