Dog-like robot on covid-19 social-distancing patrol

Wall Street got a fresh look at the retail sector Friday morning, with April sales posting another record drop. Restaurants, bars and nongrocery retailers are just starting to reopen in parts of the country — with varying levels of safety measures in place. In Washington, the House is set to vote on a new $3 trillion relief bill, and sources tell CNBC the White House would likely support a second round of stimulus checks for Americans.

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

• Global cases: More than 4.4 million
• Global deaths: At least 302,493
• US cases: More than 1.4 million
• US deaths: At least 85,906

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

House Democratic leaders forged ahead with trying to pass a $3 trillion coronavirus aid package that has no chance of becoming law.

The bill, which would top a $2 trillion March law as the biggest emergency spending plan in U.S. history, includes relief for state and local governments, another direct payment to Americans and hazard pay for essential workers. Despite some opposition from the Democratic Party’s left and right flanks, the pandemic response legislation cleared a procedural hurdle on Friday afternoon.

The House is expected to pass it by Friday night.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has criticized the measure as a Democratic wishlist. President Donald Trump has threatened to veto it – though the White House says he would be open to a different relief bill. —Jacob Pramuk

New guidelines from the San Francisco Department of Public Health give insight into how the city’s partial reopening of retailers will look on Monday. San Francisco currently plans to allow nonessential retailers to open with curbside pickup and for manufacturing that supports retail to resume operations.

Retailers are not allowed to have more than 10 employees on site at one time and will need to have clear access to a sidewalk, street, parking lot or alley for pickup. Retail businesses located inside a shopping center cannot reopen unless they have an exterior door. The health department estimates that 90% of small business retailers can reopen under these conditions. Customers arriving for pickup will have to wear masks.

Manufacturing, warehousing and logistics that support retail businesses can resume as long as they have no more than 50 employees on site at one time. These businesses must also follow social distancing guidelines and implement a health and safety plan. —Hannah Miller

The advertising industry could change dramatically as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The TV Upfronts, an opportunity for broadcasters to win commitments from advertisers, were canceled this year as the coronavirus delays television production and causes uncertainty for marketers, CNBC’s Julia Boorstin reports. Advertisers may be turning toward investing their marketing dollars in digital platforms rather than long-term TV buys. —Hannah Miller

Four Senate Democrats introduced a bill that aims to give grants to struggling nonprofits that are losing their workforces because of the coronavirus.

The bill, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Brian Schatz, Ron Wyden and Sherrod Brown, will encourage nonprofits to apply for grants issued by the Treasury Department in order to rehire laid-off workers or hire newly unemployed people.

Across the country, nonprofits have been struggling to stay afloat as the pandemic persists. Shelter-in-place guidelines have forced nonprofits and institutions catering to vulnerable populations to suffer steep declines in volunteer service and revenue. —Yelena Dzhanova

New rentals in Manhattan plummeted by 71% last month, reflecting the serious blow the coronavirus has dealt to New York City’s rental market. Manhattan’s vacancy rate is now at its highest level in 14 years as people leave the city for more spacious suburbs, CNBC’s Robert Frank reports. In order to keep tenants, landlords are making concessions like waiving one month’s rent and reducing security deposits. —Hannah Miller

With major meat plants still closed even after President Donald Trump’s executive order to keep them open and low cattle prices on top of that, many cattle ranchers in the U.S. are bleeding money and having to make hard decisions.

Fourth-generation cattle rancher Brett Kenzy says he is six weeks late on his loan payments after he was unable to sell his cattle on April 1.

For the week ending on May 9, meat production — including beef, veal, pork and lamb — was down 31% from the same time the previous year, according to the USDA.

″[T]he executive order had essentially no impact,” Derrell Peel, a livestock economist at Oklahoma State University tells CNBC Make It. The problem may be that many plants are struggling to find healthy workers as many fall sick and others are fearful of getting the virus, according to reports. If this continues, Kenzy believes “meat rationing will occur, definitely” during the summer months. —Jade Scipioni

After days of uncertainty, Mexico will allow automakers and suppliers to resume production as early as next week as long as safety protocols are implemented to protect workers from Covid-19, according to updated guidelines released by the Mexican government.

Safety protocols, according to the guidelines, are expected to include adjustment of workspaces and production processes, as well as the establishment of entryways, sanitization and hygiene practices determined by the health ministry. All are similar to measures already being established in U.S. and Mexico factories by automakers.
Without Mexico production reopening, it was unclear whether U.S. production could successfully resume next week for General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler.

Despite President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, the U.S. auto industry heavily relies on Mexico for parts and vehicle production.

The guidelines have been changed at least three times this week, including Thursday when the government said production could not begin until June 1. —Michael Wayland

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said a coronavirus test used to screen White House staff could be providing inaccurate results due to “user error.” He added the White House still has “confidence” in the test even after a recent study from New York University found it may return a high percentage of false-negative results.

U.S. officials and corporations are pouring money into testing, hoping it will give people the confidence to return to work and reopen parts of the economy. The Abbott test is one of four on the U.S. market.

On Monday, the FDA granted emergency use authorization for Abbott’s new coronavirus test that detects Covid-19 antibodies. The tests can indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 and was either asymptomatic or recovered. —Berkeley Lovelace, Jr.

Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot, Spot, is being used in a park in Singapore to help encourage social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Marc Raibert, the company’s founder, told CNBC the robot can operate itself but in Singapore, there is a human who is operating it. “The robot isn’t really enforcing in Singapore. It’s just giving people information and encouraging them,” he said. “There’s a human nearby who can do whatever enforcement they decide is appropriate.” —Kevin Stankiewicz

Despite the fact that tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs as the U.S. economy went into freefall amid the pandemic, the U.S. could still pull off a relatively quick recovery if it does just one thing right, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said, according to a Reuters report.

“If we made a dramatic national initiative for testing — and I mean dramatic …that could help create the V,” he said in an online interview with local public TV station KERA. Kaplan was referring to a “v-shaped recession,” which is characterized by a sharp decline in output followed quickly by a steep ramp back up. —Terri Cullen

UnitedHealth Group and Microsoft are launching a coronavirus screening app for U.S. employers, called ProtectWell, that provides daily symptom checker to help clear employees to go to work, or directs them to be tested if they are at risk for infection.

As companies grapple with new safety requirements to prevent Covid-19 infection when they bring employees back to the workplace, health care and tech companies are rolling new services to connect employers with reliable testing resources, advise them about establishing testing protocols for workers in different jobs, and manage the health privacy regulations surrounding the new safety measures.

UnitedHealth and Microsoft are providing their app free of charge, but for diagnostic companies and health systems providing reopening health services provides a new business opportunity to offset some of the losses caused by the moratorium on non-emergency care due to the pandemic.

The aim is to instill confidence in workers that they’re protected on the job, and through widespread testing help provide a better framework to contain the spread of the virus, so that consumers safe about going back out into their communities. —Bertha Coombs

The pace of borrowers still piling into government and private lender mortgage relief programs is finally slowing. However, a change in the way borrowers are required to pay back that relief, could make the programs more enticing over the next few months.

Approximately 4.7 million homeowners were in so-called forbearance plans, as of May 12, up from a revised 4.5 million the week before, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and analytics company. The vast majority are in the government’s plan, which was set up as part of the CARES Act, the first coronavirus relief legislation. —Diana Olick

Norway is likely to extend restrictions on international travel until Aug. 20, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said, according to Reuters. The country has advised against traveling across borders unless necessary and has asked any residents returning from abroad to quarantine for 10 days. Non-Norwegians are largely barred from entering the country, Reuters reports. —Sara Salinas

Denmark recorded zero deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours for the first time in more than two months, Reuters reported. The Scandinavian country confirmed 78 new cases to bring the national tally to 10,791. The death toll stands at 537, and the number of hospitalizations across the country fell by 10 to 137, according to Reuters. —Sara Salinas

April retail sales fell a record 16.4%, as the coronavirus pandemic largely kept brick-and-mortar shops closed. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected sales to plunge by 12.3%, compared with a previous record drop in March.

Nonessential businesses were shuttered in wide swaths across the country during the crisis. Some states are just starting to reopen shops and nongrocery retailers for business or for curbside pickup. —Sara Salinas

Once a dying piece of Americana, drive-ins have become a haven for moviegoers during the coronavirus pandemic. While traditional movie theaters have been closed due to social distancing restrictions, drive-ins have been able to show films. Although, it’s estimated that only 30 are open out of the 330 locations still operating.

Jim Kopp, owner of the Family Drive-in Theater in Stephens City, Virginia, said his theater keeps cars 10 feet apart and all of his ticketing and concession sales are now done online or through an app.

“It has changed the way we are doing business in that everything is online,” he said. “It is a contactless type of process.”

The drive-ins restrooms are also sanitized after each use, which has led to longer-than-average lines. —Sarah Whitten