ECONOMY - MBrew (Kudlow Update)

ECONOMY World Leaders Sick of Working in PJs Francis Scialabba In the middle of a global public health crisis, a leader’s No. 1 goal is to stop the spread of the disease. But as grisly economic numbers stack up and new data indicates infection rates may be leveling off, some governments are also looking for ways to safely restart the economic car.  Keep in mind, this is like starting a 12-year-old Jag—you have to be very, very careful.  First, in the U.S.  On Saturday, President Trump said he may convene a second coronavirus task force that focuses on how to restart the economy. Then yesterday, top economic advisor Larry Kudlow told Politico the administration may reopen the economy in the next four to eight weeks.  On Fox News, Kudlow pointed to New York, the U.S. epicenter, where some numbers show the outbreak may be turning a corner.   New deaths in the state had their largest single-day increase yesterday. But infection rates and hospitalizations are hovering around the same level. Hoping to leave his PowerPoint days behind, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has gathered a group of confidants who are reportedly consulting with medical and economic experts to determine how to get New York's rusty gears turning again.  Across the Atlantic  Some Vitamin D-deprived governments in Europe are already cracking the door open.  Western Europe's biggest petroleum-producing nation, Norway, will reopen schools and universities on April 27. Service businesses that require personal contact will resume gradually.  Norway reacted to the threat of coronavirus early on, and got results. Its new infection rate peaked at 425/day, and that’s been wrestled down to just over 100. Across the North Sea, Germany is planning a slow economic revival that would work in tandem with measures to keep the virus from spreading.  Bottom line: All of this hinges on one key variable: widely available testing, which the U.S. is still behind on. As they get people back to work, governments need the ability to ensure it’s the economy that gets restarted, not the outbreak. + While we're here: Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus originated, is now officially out of lockdown.