A report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday showed U.S. service sector activity contracted for the first time since December of 2009 in the month of April. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index tumbled to 41.8 in April from 52.5 in March, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction in service sector activity.

Private sector employment nosedived in the month of April, according to a report released by payroll processor ADP on Wednesday. The report said private sector employment plunged by 20.236 million jobs in April after slumping by a revised 149,000 jobs in May.

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower opening on Monday, with stocks likely to extend the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions.

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to extend the upward move seen over the course of the two previous sessions.

A significant surge in coronavirus-related deaths and infections was reported in the United States on Wednesday. With 2,229 casualties, the total number of deaths has risen to 46,785, according to Johns Hopkins University's latest data. With 29,304 new confirmed cases in the last 24 hours, the number of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. increased to 842,624.

BioNTech (BNTX) and its partner Pfizer (PFE) have started a phase I/II clinical trial in the U.S. for their BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with economist William Rodgers about the spiraling U.S. job losses due to the pandemic. The unemployment rate is now the worst since the Great Depression.

People across the country dedicated 2.23 miles to show solidarity for Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed on Feb. 23 while jogging in Georgia. Two men have been charged with murdering Arbery.

Asian stock markets are higher on Friday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street on upbeat corporate earnings results and continued optimism about easing COVID-19 restrictions. A continued decrease in the number of new jobless claims in the U.S. also boosted sentiment. Investors now look ahead to the release of the U.S. jobs data for April later today.

Reflecting the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing a record nosedive in employment in the U.S. in the month of April.

Reflecting the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it, the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing a record nosedive in employment in the U.S. in the month of April. The report said non-farm payroll employment plummeted by 20.5 million jobs in April after tumbling by a revised 870,000 jobs in March.

A report released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. decreased by slightly less than expected in the month of March. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories slumped by 0.8 percent in March after falling by 0.7 percent in February. Economists had expected inventories to tumble by 1.0 percent.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back further off their recent record high in the week ended May 2nd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, although claims remain at an elevated level and came in above economist estimates.

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed U.S. labor productivity pulled back by much less than expected in the first quarter. The Labor Department said labor productivity slumped by 2.5 percent in the first quarter after jumping by 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Economists had expected productivity to plunge by 5.5 percent.

Reflecting a steep drop in revolving credit, the Federal Reserve released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. consumer credit in the month of March.

Building on the success of its Aceo Open Print Lab in Burghausen, Germany, Wacker Chemie A.G. has opened its first United States-based rubber silicone 3D printing lab.

Has the U.S. women's soccer team done enough to warrant salaries that match their male counterparts? The 360 gives you all the angles on heavily-debated topics in the news.

IBM's Phill Jenkins recently was appointed to serve a four-year term on the U.S. Access Board.

(Bloomberg) -- Millions of virus-idled American workers are now at home with little more than hand-wringing anxiety about where their next paycheck will come from. They are Jerome Powell’s biggest worry, and how to ease their plight with monetary policy is the Federal Reserve chairman’s largest challenge.The Fed will probably debate using instruments including stronger forward guidance or asset purchases when officials meet next month, which would add more muscle to interest rates that have already been slashed to zero.But those tools require officials to have a forecast they trust of where the economy is heading. The lack of clarity could be a reason to dial down expectations that they would take such steps in June, because officials will struggle to form an outlook as the nation slowly reopens.Policy makers have already described the difficulties that forecasters face.Vice Chairman Richard Clarida warned of “enormous uncertainty” in a CNBC interview and said “we have to be appropriately humble as we’re navigating this period.” San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told Bloomberg Television that forecasting “has become very tough” now because it depends on the course of the virus. Philadelphia’s Patrick Harker described scenarios, including one with a second infection wave and “a painful economic contraction of GDP in 2021 as shutdowns are reintroduced.”Even so, Powell has said that the Fed will do what it can to curb the human tragedy of the virus’s economic harm.He helped nurture the longest U.S. expansion on record, a period of growth that was just starting to reach the most marginalized workers, from people with criminal records to those with little schooling.The Fed chief spent the last year on a listening tour to hear from ordinary Americans and discuss obstacles to even bigger gains.‘Absolute Limit’He’s now pledged to use Fed powers to the “absolute limit” to prevent the contraction from leaving deep scars on the economy’s long-term ability to grow -- through bankruptcies of small businesses or deterioration in worker skills. And he is boldly urging Congress to do more.“It is about not just winning the war against a depression, but it’s about securing the peace, winning the peace. We failed in 2008-09 to secure the peace,” Mohamed El-Erian, a Bloomberg columnist and chief economic adviser to Allianz SE, told Bloomberg Television Friday “We won the war against a threat of depression then, but we did not secure a peace of higher growth, more inclusive growth and sustainability.”In an April 29 press conference, Powell was asked if he’s troubled by the prospect that the downturn does the most harm to Americans who have only just managed to get a foothold in the labor market. “That’s exactly what I worry about,” he said.Record UnemploymentU.S. government data on Friday shows the nation headed in that direction. Employers cut 20.5 million jobs in April and the unemployment rate more than tripled to 14.7%, the harshest labor market downturn in the history of the data series. All the indications point to a brutal recession. The central bank wants to make sure it is as short as possible.Fed officials next month are due to refresh their quarterly Summary of Economic Projections, where all 17 anonymously write down a forecast for their policy interest rate, GDP, inflation and unemployment. They skipped the process in March due to a rapidly changing outlook.With so many puzzles yet to be resolved, they may diminish its importance or skip it again at their June 9-10 meeting.Officials have already assured investors that interest rates will be held near zero until they are confident the economy is back on track to achieve their twin goals for full employment and 2% inflation.Zero RatesTraders have priced in zero rates for the rest of the year, and possibly even negative interest rates in 2021, an idea that Powell has dismissed in the past and which other officials played down last week as a prospect in the U.S.With rates already at zero, “the second tool,” said Daly, “has been forward guidance,” and then balance sheet policies. Still, there is a sense at the Fed that monetary policy will have to be complimented with further creative fiscal policy to help push demand higher.Fed officials have worked with the U.S. Treasury and Congress to provide bridge credit to everything from Main Street businesses to the largest corporations.“Will there be a need to do more though?” Powell asked at his April 29 press conference. “I would say that it may well be the case that the economy will need more support from all of us if the recovery is to be a robust one.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

(United States Supreme Court) - On a question of civil procedure, held that a third-party counterclaim defendant -- that is, a party brought into a lawsuit through a counterclaim filed by the original defendant -- may not remove a class-action counterclaim from state court to federal court. Justice Thomas, joined by the four liberal justices, delivered the opinion of a 5-4 Court in this debt collection lawsuit.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Deny petition for review. Plaintiff appealed dismissal of application for asylum and withholding of removal. Petition for stay of removal was granted, but denied the award of attorney fees. Plaintiff appealed the denial of attorney fees. Appeals court ruled that Plaintiff was not entitled to attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act because the government’s actions were substantially justified.

via Health News - The New York Times https://nyti.ms/2WLL65m

(United States Second Circuit) - Reinstated federal embezzlement charges against a foreclosure referee who was also formerly a New York state senator. The defendant argued that the charges against him for allegedly embezzling escrowed funds from sales of foreclosed properties should be dismissed because the five-year statute of limitations on the offense had run. On appeal, the Second Circuit agreed with prosecutors that the district court should not have granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the charges as time-barred.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Summary judgment affirmed, award of costs vacated and remanded, where Plaintiff making FLSA claim for unpaid overtime was exempt. But because district court did not provide reasons for declining to award costs to prevailing party, award of costs vacated and that issue remanded back to district court.

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that a property owner could not proceed with a lawsuit seeking to recover tax overpayments. Affirmed a dismissal, in a case involving the determination of the real property's base-year value, a core metric for assessing property taxes in California.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a petition for a writ of mandamus to force the district court to admit an attorney it had previously denied admission pro hac vice in the high-profile criminal trial of Cliven Bundy, the District Court's denial is affirmed where it did not abuse its discretion, as there are a litany of reasons for denying the attorney's pro hac vice status.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - In litigation over competing lines of high-end cookware in which the appellees claimed trade dress infringement and unfair and deceptive trade practices, the district court's judgment in favor of the appellees is affirmed, where: 1) the appellant's failure to move pursuant to Rule 50(b) forfeited its challenge on appeal to the sufficiency of the evidence; 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in qualifying an expert or in admitting his testimony and survey; 3) the appellant engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices as a matter of law; 4) the infringement was not innocent or unintentional, and the unfair and deceptive trade practices statutes covered it; and 5) the trial judge properly treated the award of profits as damages subject to trebling under state statute.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Revived a lawsuit brought by several employees of a hospice care provider alleging that their employer had billed Medicare improperly. Reversed the dismissal of their claims under the False Claims Act.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Revived a lawsuit brought by several employees of a hospice care provider alleging that their employer had billed Medicare improperly. Reversed the dismissal of their claims under the False Claims Act.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Denied the federal government's petition for mandamus to stop a lawsuit alleging that the government is ignoring the dangers of climate change. This lawsuit was brought by a number of children and young adults who accuse federal officials of violating their due process rights by failing to take action to address climate change. Having previously denied the government's first mandamus petition, the panel concluded that no new circumstances justify this second mandamus petition and the case is currently set for trial.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Vacated federal agency decisions approving construction of a natural gas pipeline through a national forest. Several environmental groups challenged the Bureau of Land Management's and U.S. Forest Service's rulings allowing the pipeline to be built. On a petition for review, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the environmental groups that the federal agencies failed to fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Mineral Leasing Act, and the National Forest Management Act, and therefore the appeals court vacated and remanded to the agencies for further proceedings.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that a bunker (marine fuel) supplier was potentially entitled to assert a maritime lien against certain vessels to which it had physically provided marine fuel for which it was not paid, under an exception to the usual subcontractor rule. The exception allows maritime liens to be asserted by subcontractors whose selection was controlled or directed by a vessel's owner/charterer. Vacated and remanded on this issue.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a lawsuit alleging that federal agencies acted arbitrarily and capriciously in dismissing plaintiffs' rulemaking petitions, which requested that each agency promulgate regulations that would require all egg cartons to identify the conditions in which the egg-laying hens were kept during production, the district court's summary judgment in favor of federal agencies is affirmed where: 1) the Food Safety and Inspection Service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying plaintiffs' rulemaking petition because the agency correctly concluded that it lacked authority to promulgate plaintiffs' proposed labeling regulations for shell eggs: 2) the Agricultural Marketing Service did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying plaintiffs’ rulemaking petition because the agency correctly concluded that it lacked the authority to promulgate mandatory labeling requirements for shell eggs; 3) the Federal Trade Commission did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying plaintiffs' rulemaking petition; and 4) the Food and Drug Administration barely met its low burden to clearly indicate that it considered the potential problem identified in plaintiffs' petition, and provide a reasonable explanation for not initiating rulemaking.

As the United States faces meat shortages in the wake of the coronavirus, exports of pork and other proteins to China have soared.

As the globe contends with the coronavirus pandemic, still looming large now more than ever is the threat posed by Communist China, which is something Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) warns should not be taken lightly.

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults say China bears responsibility for American coronavirus deaths, a Morning Consult tracker poll released Friday revealed.

(United States Supreme Court) - On a question of civil procedure, held that a third-party counterclaim defendant -- that is, a party brought into a lawsuit through a counterclaim filed by the original defendant -- may not remove a class-action counterclaim from state court to federal court. Justice Thomas, joined by the four liberal justices, delivered the opinion of a 5-4 Court in this debt collection lawsuit.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that a bank's breach-of-contract lawsuit against another bank should not have been dismissed on timeliness grounds. Also addressed choice‐of‐law issues. Remanded for further proceedings.

By Rob Stein, Carmel Wroth, Alyson Hurt

To safely phase out social distancing measures, the U.S. needs more diagnostic testing for the coronavirus, experts say. But how much more?

The Trump administration said on April 27 that the U.S. will soon have enough capacity to conduct double the current amount of testing for active infections. The country has done nearly 248,000 tests daily on average in the past seven days, according to the nonprofit COVID Tracking Project. Doubling that would mean doing about 496,000 a day.

Will that be enough? What benchmark should states try to hit?

One prominent research group, Harvard's Global Health Institute, proposes that the U.S. should be doing more than 900,000 tests per day as a country. This projection, released Thursday, is a big jump from its earlier projection of testing need, which had been between 500,000 and 600,000 daily.

Harvard's testing estimate increased, says Ashish Jha, director of the Global Health Institute, because the latest modeling shows that the outbreak in the United States is worse than projected earlier.

"Just in the last few weeks, all of the models have converged on many more people getting infected and many more people [dying]," he says.

But each state's specific need for testing varies depending on the size of its outbreak, explains Jha. The bigger the outbreak, the more testing is needed.

On Thursday, Jha's group at Harvard published a simulation that estimates the amount of testing needed in each state by May 15. In the graphic below, we compare these estimates with the average numbers of daily tests states are currently doing.

Two ways to assess whether testing is adequate

To make their state-by-state estimates, the Harvard Global Health Institute group started from a model of future case counts. It calculated how much testing would be needed for a state to test all infected people and any close contacts they may have exposed to the virus. (The simulation estimates testing 10 contacts on average.)

"Testing is outbreak control 101, because what testing lets you do is figure out who's infected and who's not," Jha says. "And that lets you separate out the infected people from the noninfected people and bring the disease under control."

This approach is how communities can prevent outbreaks from flaring up. First, test all symptomatic people, then reach out to their close contacts and test them, and finally ask those who are infected or exposed to isolate themselves.

Our chart also shows another testing benchmark for each state: the ratio of tests conducted that come back positive. Communities that see about 10% or fewer positives among their test results are probably testing enough, the World Health Organization advises. If the rate is higher, they're likely missing a lot of active infections.

What is apparent from the data we present below is that many states are far from both the Harvard estimates and the 10% positive benchmark.

Just nine states are near or have exceeded the testing minimums estimated by Harvard; they are mostly larger, less populous states: Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Several states with large outbreaks — New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, among others — are very far from the minimum testing target. Some states that are already relaxing their social distancing restrictions, such as Georgia, Texas and Colorado, are far from the target too.

Jha offers several caveats about his group's estimates.

Estimates are directional, not literal

Researchers at the Global Health Initiative at Harvard considered three different models of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak as a starting point for their testing estimates. They found that while there was significant variation in the projections of outbreak sizes, all of the models tend to point in the same direction, i.e., if one model showed that a state needed significantly more testing, the others generally did too.

The model they used to create these estimates is the Youyang Gu COVID-19 Forecasts, which they say has tracked closely with what's actually happened on the ground. Still, the researchers caution, these numbers are not meant to be taken literally but as a guide.

Can't see this visual? Click here.

If social distancing is relaxed, testing needs may grow

The Harvard testing estimates are built on a model that assumes that states continue social distancing through May 15. And about half of states have already started lifting some of those.

Jha says that without the right measures in place to contain spread, easing up could quickly lead to new cases.

"The moment you relax, the number of cases will start climbing. And therefore, the number of tests you need to keep your society, your state from having large outbreaks will also start climbing," warns Jha.

Testing alone is not enough

A community can't base the decision that it's safe to open up on testing data alone. States should also see a consistent decline in the number of cases, of two weeks at least, according to White House guidance. If their cases are instead increasing, they should assume the number of tests they need will increase too.

And, Jha warns, testing is step one, but it won't contain an outbreak by itself. It needs to be part of "a much broader set of strategies and plans the states need to have in place" when they begin to reopen.

In fact, his group's model is built on the assumption that states are doing contact tracing and have plans to support isolation for infected or exposed people.

"I don't want anybody to just look at the number and say, we meet it and we're good to go," he says. "What this really is, is testing capacity in the context of having a really effective workforce of contact tracers."

The targets are floors, not goals

States that have reached the estimated target should think of that as a starting point.

"We've always built these as the floor, the bare minimum," Jha says. More testing would be even better, allowing states to more rapidly tamp down case surges.

In fact, other experts have proposed that the U.S. do even more testing. Paul Romer, a professor of economics at New York University, proposed in a recent white paper that if the U.S. tested every resident, every two weeks, isolating those who test positive, it could stop the pandemic in its tracks.

Jha warns that without sufficient testing, and the infrastructure in place to trace and isolate contacts, there's a real risk that states — even those with few cases now — will see new large outbreaks. "I think what people have to remember is that the virus isn't gone. The disease isn't gone. And it's going to be with us for a while," he says.

Can't see this visual? Click here.

Daniel Wood contributed to this report.

Registration Now Open For All Access Fest In Oct. 2019 The Nation’s Only Music Career Expo For Youth

Powered in part by billionaire investors, business titans and a few famous musicians, John Hickenlooper dominated the U.S. Senate race’s fundraising battle in the first three months of 2020.

A Denver judge ordered that U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Ferrigno Warren must be placed on the June 30 primary ballot, despite falling well short of the Colorado Secretary of State's usual signature requirement.

U.S. Senate candidate Lorena Garcia must be placed on the June 30 primary ballot, a Denver District Court judge ruled Thursday.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court decision to put Senate candidate Michelle Ferrigno Warren's name on the June 30 Democratic primary ballot, siding with the Secretary of State's Office.