Companies' Next Coronavirus Challenge: Getting Cash-Strapped Shoppers to Spend

Gold last traded at $1,738 an ounce. Silver at $16.13 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices rose Thursday on safe-haven buying amid downbeat economic data. U.S. stocks fell sharply - extending their steep losses this week - as investors digested the coronavirus' devastating toll of 36 million lost jobs in the past eight weeks.

WALL STREET JOURNAL---"Companies like Kellogg, Hershey and Nestle are tapping the lessons of the last recession as they seek ways to keep newly frugal consumers from trading down. The makers of shampoo, cereal, frozen pizza and other supermarket staples are working to woo shoppers who are cutting back on spending, as tough economic times set in....'We've studied what worked well and what did not in past recessions and how this one could be different,' Kellogg's Chief Executive Officer Steve Cahillane recently told investors. 'We're preparing ourselves.' Preparing for a downturn this time around is tougher, executives say, because the potential for wider spread or a second occurrence of the new coronavirus isn't yet known. Consumer-products companies are already scrambling to meet surging demand for household essentials while operating factories at lower capacity because of worker sickness or social distancing....The Covid-19 recession is expected to be deeper and more global than the financial crisis of 2008-09. The International Monetary Fund has forecast the world economy would shrink by 3% this year, compared with a contraction of 0.1% in 2009....'A significant number of American households are not working and experiencing meaningful financial pressures,' said CEO Michele Buck. 'Their shopping priorities have changed.'....'Some of the mistakes made across categories in recessions is a hunkering-down mentality,' said Kellogg's Mr. Cahillane. 'People still want good news. People want fun. They want to try things in an affordable way.'"