Wall Street Rallies, Bucking Drop in Global Stocks: Live Updates

“Hell no, we’re not opening on Monday,” Chris Escobar, who owns the 485-seat Plaza Theater in Atlanta, said by phone. “When we do, it will not be because of political pressure. It will be because leading public health experts say our lives are no longer at risk.”

The major theater chains, which operate independently but consult one another on best practices, are spending their time determining what protocols should be established. These potentially include separating seating in auditoriums and longer times between showings to allow for deeper cleaning of theaters.

Consumers have been battered by the pandemic. But is it possible they’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel?

A closely watched index of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan plunged 19.4 percent in April, according to data released Friday. That’s the biggest one-month drop on record, and follows an 11.8 percent drop in March.

But sentiment stabilized, or even edged up slightly, from a preliminary reading earlier in April. Although consumers’ assessments of their current economic conditions is in a deep slump, their expectations for the future have fallen by far less, suggesting that many Americans expect a relatively rapid economic rebound.

That optimism could provide a badly needed economic jolt as businesses begin to reopen in coming weeks. But Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Michigan survey, noted that it also poses a risk: If states move too quickly to return to business as usual and there is a renewed outbreak, it could dash consumers’ hopes and send sentiment back into free fall.

“The necessity to reimpose restrictions could cause a deeper and more lasting pessimism across all consumers, even those in states that did not relax their restrictions,” he wrote Friday.

In 17 years, Graceann Dorse and her husband, Christopher Webb, have built their cinematography and special effects firm, FX WRX, into a significant creative and economic force in New York, navigating natural and financial disasters along the way.

They weathered the Great Recession in 2007-9 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which wiped out their first studio in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. They made it through the city’s labyrinthine building permit process to open its state-of-the-art studio in the fall.

But now the coronavirus crisis is endangering their business, potentially wiping out hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal investment and guaranteed small-business loans, jeopardizing about $1 million in special effects equipment in the studio and harming the dozens of film professionals they work with.

In the last month, Ms. Dorse and Mr. Webb, a cinematographer, have applied for more than a dozen grants or low-interest loans from federal, state, city and private groups. So far, they have been denied, deferred and ignored.

The Federal Reserve’s efforts to stabilize financial markets are rising substantially, the central bank’s first 30-day public report on the programs showed.

The Fed disclosed details on three of its emergency lending facilities, all of which have rolled out since mid-March. One is aimed at primary dealers, the big banks that serve as the government’s conduit to the broader financial system, another at money market mutual funds, and the third at the commercial paper market, which businesses use to tap short-term funding.

The central bank said that it had made about $86 billion in loans altogether to the three facilities. Of those, the mutual fund program had been lent the largest amount, at $51 billion. The Fed is providing only aggregate information on the programs, which do not use CARES Act funding, and the reports cover the period through April 14.

The commercial paper and money market facility are each backed by $10 billion in funding from the Treasury Department’s exchange stabilization fund, which, assuming it is multiplied up about 10 times per the Fed’s often-used convention on these programs, should be able to support about $200 billion in Fed lending. The primary dealer facility does not have credit risk, like the other two programs, so it does not require a Treasury backstop.

The Fed publishes more up-to-date information on the facilities as part of its weekly financial accounts. The most recent edition showed that loans to the money market facility have actually fallen somewhat since April 14, while use of the primary dealer facility was little changed. The fact that the programs are not growing to capacity suggests that their mere presence may be enough to stabilize markets.

A newer facility that takes Paycheck Protection loans off bank balance sheets, and that will be subject to a separate disclosure, has taken about $8 billion in loans.

Coronavirus infections are a significant problem at meatpacking plants in the United States. Several workers have died, and many plants have closed or reduced output. Now a complaint on behalf of workers at a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Milan, Mo., has brought a renewed focus to working conditions in the industry.

It also seeks to test a novel legal question: whether health hazards at the plant present a public nuisance.

The complaint says workers are typically required to stand almost shoulder to shoulder, must often go hours without being able to clean or sanitize their hands, and have difficulty taking sick leave. Workers say they are reluctant to cover their mouths while coughing or to clean their faces after sneezing because they might miss a piece of meat as it goes by, creating a risk of disciplinary action.

The claims appear in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court by an anonymous Smithfield worker and the Rural Community Workers Alliance, a local advocacy group whose leadership council includes several other Smithfield workers.

Smithfield said the complaint was without merit. “The health and safety of our employees is our top priority,” said Keira Lombardo, executive vice president for corporate affairs and compliance.

Jennie-O Turkey Store, owned by Hormel Foods, said on Friday that it would close two processing facilities in Willmar, Minn. after 14 workers tested positive for the virus.

Among the first to say they would help was Dyson, the maker of vacuums and hair dryers founded by James Dyson. The company promptly designed its own ventilator that would be battery-powered and pledged to make thousands for the country.

But on Friday, after investing nearly 20 million pounds (or $25 million) in the project, Dyson announced that it had been told that its ventilators would no longer needed. Demand for ventilators ended up not being as high as originally feared, the company said.

Mr. Dyson, the company’s founder, said he would not seek a refund from the government for the investment.

“I have some hope that our ventilator may yet help the response in other countries, but that requires further time and investigation,” he said.