Marketplace

As of today, the Small Business Administration’s pandemic emergency lending program has approved more than 1.3 million loan applications worth nearly $300 billion. We’ll check in on the state of the program and some businesses that have applied. Plus, the spring clothing stranded in stores, coronavirus’ effect on college admissions and the country’s yeast shortage.

In a normal year, the nation’s procrastinators would be firing up tax software or digging around for a W-2 tonight. But now that tax day is delayed three months, there’s a different kind of chaos unfolding for accountants. Plus: a new IMF outlook, the challenges of managing staff remotely and an unexpected essential business: livestock auctions.

Whether it’s TP or a Nintendo Switch, if you’ve had trouble finding an item in stores or online recently, it all comes back to the supply chain. Today, we’ll break it down. Plus: The U.S. Postal Service’s financial trouble, how social distancing is changing the urban landscape and a conversation with the CEO of Feeding America.

As state after state encourages people to stay home, therapists and psychiatrists have moved their practices onto the internet and over the phone. While mental health care can make that switch relatively easily, getting it covered is another matter. Plus, America’s truck driver shortage and the psychology of app-based tipping.

About 17 million Americans filed unemployment claims in the past three weeks and the actual number of jobs lost is almost certainly higher. Today, we’ll try to figure out how high unemployment might go by the summer. Plus: how food banks are coping with the crisis and how credit markets might indicate recession.

People of color are being hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, in part because they are disproportionally represented among frontline workers. Today, we do the numbers on this country’s labor force and how workers’ families are affected. Plus, converting hotels into homeless shelters, when unemployment turns recession into depression and our new embrace of processed food.

With so many “essential” workers putting themselves at risk, hazard pay has become a national topic of debate. Today, we’ll spend some time looking at exactly what it is and how it’s used. Plus, we explain deflation, the new distressed property market and why unemployment numbers are even higher than the data suggests.

A new report from the American Enterprise Institute offers a roadmap — today we’ll talk with a co-author. Plus: consumer spending’s drop-off, what happens when retailers stop paying rent and how social distancing can lead to social media overload.

We got the March jobs numbers this morning — 4.4% unemployment, more than 700,000 jobs lost, and it’s going to get a lot worse. Lenders are bracing themselves for missed mortgage payments and investors are avoiding loans that aren’t backed by the government. Today, we’ll dig into the economic ripple effects. Plus, small businesses trying to apply for emergency loans and the impact of COVID-19 on both funeral homes and the ad industry.

Unemployment claims passed 6.6 million last week, more than double the week before. Many workers who still have their jobs are now doing them for reduced pay. We’ll ask how those pay cuts might ripple through the economy. Plus: the huge number of immigrants who will miss out on checks from the government, and the logistical challenge of giving small businesses emergency loans.