Coronavirus lockdown: Few US manufacturers, states reopening amid political pressure

A few of US heavy-equipment manufacturers resumed production and some states rolled out aggressive reopening plans on Monday, despite nationwide stay-at-home guidelines in the country.

The reopenings come in the aftermath of oil futures plunging below zero on Monday and stocks and Treasury yields also dropping on Wall Street. The cost to have a barrel of US Crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37.63. It was at roughly $60 at the start of the year.

To this end, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced plans to restart the state's economy before the end of the week. According to his directive, gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors could reopen Friday, as long as owners followed strict social distancing and hygiene requirements.

Texas also on Monday began a week of slow reopenings, starting off with state parks, while officials said that later in the week, stores would be allowed to offer curbside service.

Tennessee, Republican West Virginia and Democratic Colorado will also follow suit.

Coming to manufacturers, Boeing said it was putting about 27,000 people back to work this week building passenger jets at its Seattle-area plants, with virus-slowing precautions in place, including face masks and staggered shifts.

Doosan Bobcat, a farm equipment maker and North Dakota's largest manufacturer, announced the return of about 2,200 workers at three factories around the state.

The death toll in the US stands at more than 42,000 -- the highest in the world -- with over 7,80,000 confirmed infections.

Elsewhere around the world, step-by-step reopenings have been underway in Europe, where the crisis has begun to ebb in places such as Italy, Spain and Germany.