U.S. Retail Sales Plunge Record 8.7% in March

U.S. retail sales plunged by a record amount in March as coronavirus lockdowns kept consumers out of stores in almost all sectors, leaving only grocers, pharmacies and home centers posting gains.The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that retail sales fell 8.7% last month, the biggest decline...

By Matthew Heller • April 15, 2020

IMF Predicts Worst Slump Since Great Depression

The global economy will likely suffer its worst contraction this year since the Great Depression due to the coronavirus pandemic, with prospects for a recovery in 2021 shrouded in “extreme uncertainty,” the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.In its latest World Economic Outlook report, th...

By Matthew Heller • April 14, 2020

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Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

U.S. Consumer Prices Tumble 0.4% in March

U.S. consumer prices fell by the most in more than five years in March as the coronavirus pandemic pummeled demand, fueling concerns that the economy is heading toward deflation.The Labor Department reported Friday that the consumer price index dropped 0.4% last month amid a sharp decline in the ...

By Matthew Heller • April 10, 2020

Fed Offers More Support for Loans, Corporate Debt

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a new $2.3 trillion package of measures to support the coronavirus-battered economy, including a $600 billion loan program for small and mid-size businesses.In addition to launching the Main Street Lending Program, the Fed is expanding its backstops...

By Matthew Heller • April 9, 2020

Saudi Investment Fuels Rally in Carnival Shares

Carnival Corp. shares continued to rally on Wednesday as news of Saudi Arabia’s investment in the world’s largest cruise operator raised investor hopes that it can stay afloat through the coronavirus crisis.The Saudi kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund disclosed on Monday that it had built an 8.2% st...

By Matthew Heller • April 8, 2020

SoFi Buys Payments Processor Galileo for $1.2B

SoFi has made a major move to add payments functionality to its personal finance platform by agreeing to acquire software company Galileo for $1.2 billion.Galileo specializes in application programming interfaces (APIs) that power functionalities including account set-up, direct deposit, ACH tran...

By Matthew Heller • April 8, 2020

Exxon Cuts Spending by 30% Amid Demand Crash

ExxonMobil said Tuesday it will slash capital spending this year by 30% — the largest cut any oil major has made in response to the coronavirus-driven crash in demand.More than 50 oil and gas companies so far have announced plans to reduce spending by more than $37 billion, with majors’ BP, Chevr...

By Matthew Heller • April 7, 2020

Moody’s Sees Potential Recovery in 2nd Half of 2020

The U.S. government’s economic policy response to the coronavirus could pave the way for a recovery in the second half of 2020 though downside risks to growth remain high, according to Moody’s Investor Service.In a report released on Monday, Moody’s said the fiscal and monetary response of the fe...

By Matthew Heller • April 6, 2020

Banks Brace for Crisis Loan Program Rollout

U.S. banks were bracing for the rollout Friday of a $350 billion loan program for struggling small businesses amid tensions over balancing due diligence with the need for timely approvals.The Paycheck Protection Program, a major component of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief package pa...

By Matthew Heller • April 3, 2020

Weekly Jobless Claims Soar to Record 6.64M

First-time claims for unemployment benefits soared to a second straight record last week, reflecting what one economist called the “tectonic shift” in the labor market caused by the coronavirus crisis.The Labor Department reported Thursday that 6.64 million Americans filed for benefits in the wee...

By Matthew Heller • April 2, 2020

FTC Sues to Reverse Altria’s Investment in Juul

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to unwind Altria’s $12 billion investment in Juul Labs, saying the deal was aimed at eliminating competition in the e-cigarette market.In an administrative complaint filed on Wednesday, the FTC said the December 2018 deal, which gave Marlboro maker Altria a...

By Matthew Heller • April 2, 2020

Global Manufacturing Dives Amid Virus Lockdowns

The coronavirus pandemic dealt a severe blow to manufacturing activity around the world in March, with even export powerhouses such as Germany and Japan experiencing sharp slowdowns.Germany’s manufacturing sector saw the steepest decrease in output in almost 11 years as IHS Markit’s Purchasing Ma...

By Matthew Heller • April 1, 2020

Xerox Bows to Virus, Drops HP Takeover Fight

After a five-month offensive, Xerox is dropping its hostile takeover bid for HP due to the turmoil in the financial markets caused by the coronavirus.Xerox had sweetened its cash-and-stock offer for HP to $24 per share in February, representing an equity value at the time of roughly $34 billion. ...

By Matthew Heller • April 1, 2020

Moody’s Cuts Corporate Debt Outlook to Negative

Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook on corporate debt to negative from stable despite the Federal Reserve’s unusual move to keep the market functioning during the coronavirus crisis.The rating agency is expecting default rates to rise, with those sectors that are “most sensitive to consumer...

By Matthew Heller • March 31, 2020

Fitch Lowers Outlook for Consumer Finance Sector

Fitch Ratings on Monday lowered its credit outlook for the consumer finance sector, including credit card lenders, to negative from stable, warning that lenders’ credit performance could “deteriorate rapidly” as a result of the coronavirus crisis.The credit rating agency said it expects most cons...

By Matthew Heller • March 30, 2020

Gas Demand Plunges Amid Virus Lockdowns

With coronavirus lockdowns keeping Americans home, U.S. weekly gasoline demand showed the largest decline last week since September 2019.The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that for the week ended March 20, gasoline demand dropped by 859,000 barrels per day to just over 8.8 millio...

By Matthew Heller • March 27, 2020

Software Finance Chief Adamant Not to Be a ‘CF-NO’

When Mahesh Patel joined Druva as its CFO in 2014, the cloud-based data protection software company had a single product and $10 million in revenue. Today there are four product lines, and the company’s subscription offerings are generating annual recurring revenue of more than $100 million.Mahes...

By David McCann • March 25, 2020

European Firms Get Billions in Virus Protections

European governments have committed more than $1 trillion in state loans, credit guarantees, tax deferrals and other measures to shield businesses from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.In one of the boldest moves, France announced Monday that it will guarantee hundreds of billions worth of ...

By Matthew Heller • March 18, 2020

Fed Unveils Plan to Shore up Commercial Paper

The U.S. Federal Reserve moved on Tuesday to shore up the commercial paper market to ease funding pressures on companies amid the coronavirus outbreak.The Fed announced it will revive the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, a program first introduced during the financial crisis, to maintain the fl...

By Matthew Heller • March 17, 2020

Companies Brace for Impacts to Top & Bottom Lines

CFOs are expecting the COVID-19 pandemic to him them where it hurts most: their top and bottom lines.In a PricewaterhouseCoopers poll of 50 U.S. and Mexico finance leaders conducted March 9-11, more than half (58%) said they expect decreased revenue, profits, or both this year as a result of COVI...

By David McCann • March 16, 2020

Fed Repo Offers to Pump $1.5T Into Markets

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has stepped in to provide liquidity in the Treasury bill market, citing “highly unusual disruptions” due to the coronavirus crisis.The central bank began Thursday to increase its repurchase operations, offering $500 billion in three-month repos to be followed ...

By Matthew Heller • March 13, 2020

U.S. Producer Prices Fall 0.6% in February

U.S. wholesale inflation fell by the most in five years in February — and economists expect disinflationary pressures to continue as the coronavirus suppresses demand.The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index for final demand dropped 0.6% last month, the biggest decline...

By Matthew Heller • March 12, 2020

Cyberattacks Could Cripple U.S. Financial System

In 1999, NASA lost its $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter due to a careless error: the engineers forgot to convert measurements from imperial to metric. This single point failure had cascading effects, with the probe ultimately disappearing altogether.In the 21st century, first-order, single-point...

By David McCann • March 11, 2020

Oil Prices Rebound on U.S. Stimulus Hopes

Crude oil prices rallied on Tuesday amid hopes the White House will stimulate the economy to soften the impact of the coronavirus and that Saudi Arabia and Russia will resolve their differences over oil production.One day after Brent crude plummeted 24%, the global benchmark rallied 8.3% to $37.2...

By Matthew Heller • March 10, 2020

Locally Grown CEOs Manage for the Longer Term

What confidence can shareholders have in top executives’ ability to manage for the long run — as leaders might do, for example, in sustaining a company’s investments in research and development even as they strive to meet earnings forecasts?A survey some years ago of 400 CFOs found that about 80%...

By David McCann • March 10, 2020