Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, March 23rd,

and this is your FT news briefing.

The US now has nearly 30,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus,

with cities including New York shutting down to stem the spread.

But as of late Sunday night, progress on a $2 trillion stimulus package from Washington to manage

the economic fallout had stalled.

Plus, official economic data relating to the outbreak is often out of date by the time we get our eyes

on it.

The F.T. is John Byrne Murdoch has found another way to gauge the impact on the global economy.

And Occidental Petroleum and Carl Icon could be getting close to a truce.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

And as the scale of the coronavirus outbreak in the US became clear over the weekend,

so did the pressure on lawmakers to agree on fiscal

stimulus measures that might soften the economic blow.

Economists are predicting a dramatic slowdown in economic activity in the next few weeks.

But yesterday, Democrats blocked an effort to move forward a $2 trillion plan that Republicans

put on the table.

Democrats say that the package focuses too much on bailing out big businesses

and not enough on worker protections. The bill needed 60 votes to move forward but

only got 47. Lawmakers were wrestling with the bill late on Sunday night hoping to have a deal before the markets opened on Monday.

News that negotiations had stalled, sent US stock futures down in early trading in Asia.

...