By MarketsFarm

WINNIPEG, Apr. 1 (MarketsFarm) – The following is a glance at the news moving markets in Canada and globally.
 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the federal government will spend C$2 billion on manufacturing protective personal equipment for healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. “Protective personal equipment is essential to protect healthcare workers that are on the frontlines of this fight. We recognize that more is needed,” Trudeau said in the daily press conference outside his home on Tuesday. Thornhill Medical and Linamar Corp. have teamed up in order to produce ventilators required in emergency rooms.

 
The United States lost 27,000 jobs in March before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the economy to a screeching halt, according to a private survey. As of March 14, small businesses lost 90,000 jobs, which was offset by medium and large-sized companies adding workers. However, the following week, unemployment claims soared to 3.3 million, which was five times the previous record high.
 
Russia is sending medical equipment and masks to the U.S. in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. “Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, to a Russian news agency on Tuesday night. U.S. COVID-19 cases are close 190,000, and 4,000 have died. Russia’s official count is at 2,777, with 24 dead, but Russian doctors have questioned the accuracy of those figures, according to reports from Al Jazeera.