Want to rile up America’s coastal millennials? Ask them what they pay in rent. Sky-high housing costs are the scourge of many U.S. cities. And the solution seems pretty obvious: build more housing. But politics often complicates this. “Golden Gates” – an excellent new book by The New York Times writer Conor Dougherty – dispenses with ideology to offer some economic sense on a genuine crisis.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman is having a bad day at the office. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister and de facto leader of the 13-strong Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries tried on Thursday to bounce Russia, leading light of an expanded group called OPEC+, into supporting big output cuts to face down a coronavirus-shaped hole in 2020 crude demand. On Friday he failed. The fallout could be long-lasting.

JPMorgan’s succession plan is getting an unexpected trial run. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is recuperating after emergency heart surgery on Thursday. How well his deputies manage the virus crisis will provide investors with a glimpse into the bank’s future.

Covid-19 will give multilateralism a boost. Poor countries are more vulnerable in viral outbreaks and they undercut the containment efforts of richer ones. The spread of the new coronavirus from its epicentre in China knocks the case for globalisation, but it also promotes the need for cooperation on health. The rich world has a selfish reason to aid the poor. 

U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell surprised markets with a rate cut ahead of schedule. Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden unexpectedly won the most states on Super Tuesday. Covid-19 may show up in China M&A clauses. The coronavirus is inspiring flights to safety.

A large coronavirus-related fiscal stimulus is good for America and bad for its bloated balance sheet. Congress on Thursday approved $8.3 billion to mitigate a potential outbreak. That number is misleading though, because in reality hundreds of billions more may be needed to stem economic damage. The problem is that the deficit is already $1 trillion, pushed up by tax cuts and higher spending the economy didn’t obviously need.

Nobody expects the Spanish influenza. Or the Bubonic plague. Even so, pestilential panics like Covid-19 come along every so often, and they sometimes become full-blown levellers of humanity. Thankfully, the so-called coronavirus appears to be nothing like the 14th century’s Black Death. But going by what happened following deadlier prior outbreaks, “plague-enomics” can still lead to far-reaching structural shifts.  

If the past is any guide, the stock market’s mauling of airlines due to the coronavirus outbreak is excessive. The global spread of the disease has hammered demand for air travel, knocking share prices and pushing UK budget carrier Flybe into bankruptcy. Yet previous periods of turbulence have not halted the industry’s steady upward trajectory.

A swift return to normal in Macau is looking like a long shot. One casino operator, Melco Resorts and Entertainment, says recovery from the coronavirus could take four to six months. The slump is starting to make a comparison to China’s corruption crackdown more apt than the oft-cited SARS. 

On Tuesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to a record low, and Joe Biden surged in the Democratic presidential race. The two may be indirectly related. The former vice president’s dramatic turnaround shows that, like investors, voters are seeking a safe haven in uncertain times. As a deadly virus spreads in the United States, that’s not surprising. It’s bad news for the current president.