FDA greenlights first coronavirus test with at-home sample, Trump targets immigration

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• Global cases: More than 2.5 million
• Global deaths: At least 171,810
• US cases: More than 788,900
• US deaths: At least 42,485

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Macy's is taking extreme measures to avoid dire outcomes like bankruptcy, and will try to raise billions in debt to weather the pandemic crisis, according to people familiar with the matter.

The country's largest department store is looking at raising as much as $5 billion in debt, the people said. It will seek to use its inventory as collateral to raise $3 billion and real estate to raise $1 billion to $2 billion, they said. It is not planning to pledge its prime Herald Square location in New York as part of the deal, one of the people said.

The retailer earlier this year retained investment bank Lazard to help shore up its balance sheet. —Lauren Hirsch

Start-ups in telehealth, fitness and remote work are seeing record growth now that millions of Americans across the country are stuck at home. They're getting plenty of offers from venture investors, who have cash to put to work from large new funds.

"The question becomes, is this a step function change or a peak that reverts back, and how far does it revert back," said Jeff Crowe, a partner at Norwest Ventures. —Ari Levy

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will be placing a 60-day pause on the issuance of certain immigration green cards in an effort to limit competition for jobs in a U.S. economy wrecked by the coronavirus.

"To protect American workers I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigrating into the United States," Trump said at a White House briefing after tweeting about the order late Monday night.

Trump said that the move would not impact those in the country on a temporary basis and would apply only to those looking for green cards in hopes of staying. —Associated Press

A hotel in Washington, D.C., owned by President Donald Trump is asking the government for a break on its rent payments, according to a new report. 

Trump International Hotel, located a few blocks from the White House, has seen revenues plunge in recent weeks because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and is looking to cut costs, The New York Times reported. 

The outbreak has crushed the hotel industry as shelter-in-place guidelines issued by state governments encourage people to remain at home and avoid unnecessary travel.

The 263-room hotel is owned and operated by the Trump organization, the real estate company currently headed by the president's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

But the hotel is situated in a federally owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue, and the company makes monthly rent payments to the General Services Administration, a federal agency that manages government buildings. —Yelena Dzhanova

Americans should prepare to see more deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in cities, as the outbreak in the United States moves past its peak and infection rates decline, White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Deborah Birx warned.

Deaths generally lag behind other aspects of the outbreak, she said at a White House press conference. "We really need to continue to unite and really, really support our health-care providers who are still on the frontline."

The coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China almost 4 months ago, has sickened more than  820,000 people in the U.S. and killed at least 44,228 as of Tuesday night, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. U.S. officials and infectious disease experts have previously said that deaths fall behind new cases and hospitalization.

Birx said Tuesday that U.S. health officials are seeing improvements in several parts of the country, including in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta. "That was a great concern for us over the past several weeks. They appear to be flattening," she said. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

LendingClub is cutting roughly a third of its staff as the Covid-19 slowdown dampens demand for consumer loans. 

The company, which pioneered online personal loans, said in a regulatory filing that it would lay off 460 people — or about 30% of its workforce.

LendingClub CEO Scott Sanborn said the virus outbreak was having an "unprecedented effect" on consumers and small businesses, resulting in a drop in demand for personal loans. The move was necessary to "realign" staffing with the current business environment, he said. 

"With these actions, we believe we are well-positioned to achieve our long-term strategic goals and better serve our members, who will need us more than ever, once the economy stabilizes," Sanborn said in a statement.

The company also said it was reducing executives' salaries by 25%. Sanborn, meanwhile, will take a 30% pay cut. —Kate Rooney

New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics announced they are now conducting antibody testing for Covid-19 using blood samples, a practice known as serology testing. Quest Diagnostics can conduct about 70,000 tests per day, and is looking to expand that capacity to 150,000 tests daily by early next month.

The company is using serology testing platforms that were originally developed by Abbott and PerkinElmer's Euroimmun diagnostics division but independently validated by Quest. Antibody testing has the potential to help healthcare professionals identify people who were infected with, but then developed an immune response, to the novel coronavirus.

Quest Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Jay G. Wohlgemuth said in a statement that antibody testing can also help doctors identify people who could contribute plasma to help treat those who are seriously ill from the coronavirus. —Lora Kolodny

President Donald Trump said that the USNS Comfort, the hospital ship deployed to provide emergency support for health-care workers battling the coronavirus, will depart its station in New York City to get "ready for its next mission."

Trump's announcement followed a meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that focused on testing. Cuomo and Trump both said after the meeting that they agreed to "work together" to double New York's rate of Covid-19 testing to 40,000 tests per day.

"I've asked Andrew if we could bring the Comfort back to its base in Virginia so that we could have it for other locations, and he said we would be able to do that," Trump said at the press briefing. —Amanda Macias, Kevin Breuninger

U.S. stock futures pointed to gains at the open, following recent weakness in markets aggravated by oil's massive decline.

Dow futures rose 110 points, indicating a gain of about 0.6% at the open. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also slated to open higher, with gains of 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively.  U.S. oil's June contract rebounded in evening trading, popping 10% to above $12 a barrel.  —Maggie Fitzgerald

Netflix released its Q1 2020 earnings on Tuesday. In a letter to shareholders, the company said there are three ways the coronavirus crisis is impacting its business.

"First, our membership growth has temporarily accelerated due to home confinement," Netflix said. "Second, our international revenue will be less than previously forecast due to the dollar rising sharply. Third, due to the production shutdown, some cash spending on content will be delayed, improving our free cash flow, and some title releases will be delayed, typically by a quarter." —Jessica Bursztynsky

The U.S. Navy said Tuesday that nearly all crewmembers assigned to the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier have been tested for the disease.

"As of today, 94% of USS Theodore Roosevelt crewmembers were tested for Covid-19, with 710 total positive and 3,872 negative results," the service wrote in a release. Of the total cases, nine are currently being treated at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, 42 sailors have recovered and one sailor died. A significant amount of the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew tested positive but displayed no symptoms. —Amanda Macias

The Senate on Tuesday passed a $484 billion package to bolster small businesses and hospitals ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic and expand testing for Covid-19.

The House aims to approve the bill by Thursday.

Democratic leaders and the White House have negotiated for days on a plan to replenish a $350 billion small business aid program set up last month as part of a $2 trillion rescue package. The Small Business Administration committed all of the money by last week — though it is unclear how many small companies have received loans.

Congress has faced pressure to relieve an economy and health care system devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. More than 22 million people filed for unemployment benefits over the latest four week period as businesses in most of the country remain closed to slow Covid-19′s spread. —Jacob Pramuk

Rick Bright, one of the nation's leading vaccine development experts and the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, is no longer leading the organization, officials told STAT.

The shakeup at the agency, known as BARDA, couldn't come at a more inopportune time for the office, which invests in drugs, devices, and other technologies that help address infectious disease outbreaks and which has been at the center of the government's coronavirus pandemic response. —STAT News

U.S. stocks fell sharply once again on Tuesday as oil prices continued their unprecedented wipeout, further denting market sentiment and dampening the global economic outlook. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 631.56 points, or more than 2.6%, to close at 23,018.88. Tuesday's losses brought the Dow's two-day decline to more than 1,200 points. The S&P 500 dropped 2.7% to 2,736.56 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.5% to 8,263.23. (Click here for the latest market news.)

Traders were focused on the strange happenings with oil futures once again, which raised concern about deep losses for the energy industry hitting the U.S. economy even further. The June contract for West Texas Intermediate cratered 43.4% to $11.57 per barrel on Tuesday. —Fred Imbert

President Donald Trump would require technology workers in the United States on H-1B visas to provide updated certifications that they are not displacing American workers, according to a draft executive order, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The executive order would deny entry for people seeking most types of work visas for at least 90 days, Bloomberg reported.

It excludes people seeking jobs related to the food supply chain and would not apply to health care or medical research professionals, according to the draft. —Reuters

The battle between the states and the federal government is heating up about when to open the economy and start letting people go back to work due to the coronavirus.

Exactly when employees will be heading back to work is still an unknown, but what is certain is that when it does happen, things at the office will almost certainly be very different. Just as the pandemic is likely to have a lasting impact on our personal habits, it will also change the way we work. Among the key changes companies are already considering: more space, sanitation and flexibility, with more employees working from home on a semi-regular basis.

According to a number of office designers, companies will be installing more sensors to reduce touch points, such as on light and power switches and door handles, antimicrobial materials, more and better air filtration, temperature monitoring at entry points, desks that are spaced farther apart, plus subtle design features that remind people to keep their distance. —Ellen Sheng

Senate Republicans and Democrats reached a deal for an additional $484 billion in coronavirus relief, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The bill still has to undergo a vote, which could come within the hour. 

Here's what's in the bill:

• $310 billion total for the Paycheck Protection Program, with $250 billion unrestricted and $60 billion set aside for smaller institutions
• $50 billion for Economic Injury Disaster Loan program loans and $10 billion for EIDL grants
• $75 billion for hospitals 
• $25 billion for testing, $11 billion of which will be distributed to states
• $2.1 billion for Small Business Administration administrative expenses

"I welcome this bipartisan agreement and hope the Senate will quickly pass it once members have reviewed the final text," McConnell said in a statement, criticizing Democrats for resisting the passage of additional small business funding earlier this month "in a search for partisan 'leverage' that never materialized." —Jacob Pramuk, Sara Salinas 

Regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first coronavirus test that lets people collect a sample at home.

The authorization of the diagnostic — developed by testing giant LabCorp —  marks the first time the agency has cleared an at-home Covid-19 test and caps weeks of back-and-forth between the agency and startups who sought to develop their own versions of the tests that would allow for at-home sample collection. LabCorp's test will initially be made available to health care workers and first responders who might have been exposed to the virus. Patients can collect samples at home if the test is recommended by a health care provider after they've completed a questionnaire about Covid-19. —STAT News

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for June delivery dropped 43% to settle at $11.57 per barrel. Earlier it fell more than 60% to trade under $7 per barrel. The May contract settled at $10.01 per barrel. On Monday it fell below zero for the first time in history. However, as contracts approach expiration, trading volume is typically thin. —Pippa Stevens, Yun Li

Senate Republicans and Democrats are closing in on a roughly $484 billion coronavirus relief package for small businesses, hospitals and testing, people familiar with the matter tell CNBC.

The Senate could vote on a deal as soon as 4 p.m. ET, and the House could approve it as early as Thursday. Here's how much the bill would allocate for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and hospitals and coronavirus testing. —Lauren Hirch, Yelena Dzhanova 

Howard Schultz said additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program is not adequate to help small restaurants survive the coronavirus pandemic. 

"What's needed is not another version of PPP. Again, good intent but it's the wrong medicine," the billionaire former Starbucks CEO said on "Squawk Box." 

Rather, Schultz said he believes the government needs to create a robust program to serve as a "bridge to a vaccine." The price tag may be around $1 trillion, he said. "It's large. I understand it." 

But he argued the cost of the program will be "much, much less" than the cost of more than 100,000 small restaurants potentially closing for good due to the coronavirus crisis. —Kevin Stankiewicz

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai should hold themselves personally responsible for protecting data collected through their efforts to trace the spread of Covid-19, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote in a letter to the CEOs on Tuesday.

"If you seek to assure the public, make your stake in this project personal," wrote Hawley, a prominent tech critic. "Make a commitment that you and other executives will be personally liable if you stop protecting privacy, such as by granting advertising companies access to the interface once the pandemic is over."

Apple and Google announced earlier this month that they have teamed up in an effort to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. The companies will release tools allowing public health authorities to create apps that will notify users who opt-in if they have come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. The system, known as contact tracing, will use Bluetooth connections in phones. —Lauren Feiner

A new coalition, "Stand for Small," from American Express and over 40 partner companies aims to provide small business owners support through various offers, tools and expertise, as they navigate the effects of the coronavirus.

The coalition includes Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM. CNBC Select reviews how Stand for Small can help your business and shares the benefits of having a small business credit card. —Alexandria White

The Netherlands extended by three months a ban on major public events, including professional sports and music festivals, until Sept. 1.

At the same time, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said an "encouraging" slowing of the spread of the coronavirus would enable elementary schools and day-care centres to reopen in May.

Rutte said the limited easing of restrictive measures was necessary to prevent a strong resurgence of Covid-19. —Reuters

New York Attorney General Letitia James opened an inquiry into Charter Communications after the telecom company continued to require some employees to report to corporate offices amid government calls for employers to allow remote work where possible.

The inquiry will look into how Charter has managed its employees during the Covid-19 pandemic, a spokesperson for James said.

More than 230 employees of Charter's Spectrum division have tested positive for Covid-19, a person with knowledge of the company told The New York Times. The company has about 95,000 total employees, according to public filings compiled by FactSet.

The illnesses follow a March report by TechCrunch that said Charter had continued to require employees to report to offices and call centers around the country despite government guidelines to restrict gatherings of 10 or more people. At the time, employees at some of those locations had already tested positive for the virus, according to the report. —Lauren Feiner

The threat of destroying the U.S. economy must be weighed against the diminishing health risks from the coronavirus, real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht told CNBC.

"I actually think we have to reopen the economy. We have to do it ZIP code by ZIP code," said Sternlicht, whose $60 billion Starwood Capital Group has interests in luxury hotels and malls among its many businesses. "We have to get going. The cost is too great. The government can't carry a $23 trillion economy."

Sternlicht's call to action comes as more states run by Republican governors are announcing plans to reopen parts of their economies as new daily virus cases in the U.S. continue to slow. —Matthew J. Belvedere

For weeks, the mortgage industry has been crying for help from being left on the hook to pay for much of the government's mortgage bailout. Now, they're getting some relief.

More than 3 million borrowers have taken advantage of the mortgage forbearance program, which allows those with government-backed loans to delay up to a year's worth of monthly mortgage payments if they have been hurt financially by the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Borrowers would have to make those payments at a later date, or over time. Mortgage servicers, however, the companies that collect the payments, were required to advance that money to bondholders for up to a year.

Now, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has reduced that requirement to 4 months.

"The four-month servicer advance obligation limit for loans in forbearance provides stability and clarity to the $5 trillion Enterprise-backed housing finance market," said FHFA Director Mark Calabria. "Mortgage servicers can now plan for exactly how long they will need to advance principal and interest payments on loans for which borrowers have not made their monthly payment." —Diana Olick

Britain's health minister said Tuesday that the country will test a potential vaccine for the coronavirus on people later this week.

A vaccine developed by researchers at Oxford University will be tested on people on Thursday, Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a daily news briefing.

"In normal times, reaching this stage would take years, and I'm very proud of the work taken so far," he said.

Hancock said he would make £20 million ($24.5 million) available to the scientists at Oxford, as well as an additional £22.5 million in funding for researchers at Imperial College London.

"Nothing about this process is certain," he said. "Vaccine development is a process of trial and error and trial again." That's the nature of how vaccines are developed." —Ryan Browne

New York's unemployment website "collapsed" following a record surge in claims after the state shuttered nonessential businesses to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

The state now has 1,000 people working online and through its phone system to process the high volume of unemployment claims, Cuomo told reporters.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "One thousand people just to take the incoming unemployment calls. That's how high the volume is and they still can't keep up with the volume."

The state has paid about $2.2 billion in unemployment insurance benefits to 1.1 million New Yorkers since the Covid-19 outbreak began, according to state data. There's still a backlog of 4,305 phone applications, but that's down from 275,000 before April 8, the state said. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Correction: This item was revised to delete an incorrect reference about where Cuomo spoke.

Italy is likely to start easing its coronavirus lockdown from May 4, though the long-awaited rollback will be cautious and calculated, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday.

The country has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 24,100 people dying since the contagion emerged there in February.

Looking to contain the spread, the government introduced sweeping curbs in March, telling Italians to stay at home and shutting schools, businesses and industries nationwide.

The restrictions have put a major strain on the euro zone's third largest economy, but with the number of new cases gradually slowing, Conte said he would unveil by the weekend government plans to loosen the shutdown.

"I wish I could say: let's reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning. ... But such a decision would be irresponsible," Conte wrote in a Facebook post.

He promised "a serious, scientific plan" that would include a "rethinking of modes of transport" to enable workers to travel in safety, new business rules and measures to check whether the loosening was leading to an uptick in infections.

"It is reasonable to expect that we will apply it from May 4," he said, adding that a rushed, disorganized exit strategy would make a mockery of the sacrifices Italians had accepted. —Reuters

U.S. stocks fell sharply once again as oil prices continued their unprecedented wipeout. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 600 points, or more than 2%. Tuesday's losses brought the Dow's two-day decline to nearly 1,200 points. The S&P 500 dropped 3% while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.4%. —Yun Li, Fred Imbert

U.S President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed on the need for a coordinated international response to the coronavirus pandemic, including through the G-7, Downing Street said in a statement.

The pair also discussed trade during a telephone conversation.

"The leaders committed to continue working together to strengthen our bilateral relationship, including by signing a free trade agreement as soon as possible," a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Britain left the European Union earlier this year and a deal with the United States is a key priority for Johnson's administration. Johnson is recovering at his country residence after he was hospitalized with Covid-19. His foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is standing in for him while he recovers. —Reuters

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will focus on coronavirus testing during his meeting Tuesday afternoon with President Donald Trump at the White House. 

Cuomo wants to talk to Trump about "testing, and what does testing mean, and how do we do it, and how can the federal government work in partnership with states," he said at a press conference t the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. He said the state has struggled to navigate the international supply chain for test kits since Trump has left it up to individual states to procure their own tests. 

"You shouldn't expect all these governors to run around and do an international supply chain while they're trying to put together their testing protocol in their state, coordinating their labs," Cuomo said. "Then I have to put together an army of tracers, that's thousands of people. That's never been done before." —Noah Higgins-Dunn

The actual number of coronavirus cases in the United States is likely significantly higher — as much 10 or even 20 times higher — than the tally of Covid-19 infections currently being reported, a former top federal health official said.

"There's certainly under-diagnosis going on," Dr. Scott Gottlieb said during an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box."

As of Tuesday, there were more than 787,900 coronavirus cases officially diagnosed in the U.S., with at least 42,364 d