Recommendations for American Business From Foreign Companies Operating on the Front Line in China.

The voices of small-business owners in Arkansas betray their anxiety, even anguish approaching grief, as they fight for their future — and a future for their employees — in a world upended by a deadly pandemic.

Take a deeper dive into the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data point, which is especially prevalent in this week’s economic calendar.

As the novel coronavirus pandemic disrupts industries and the entire national economy, Vernon “Buddy” Hasten of the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corp. knows just how vital his top job is: keeping the lights on for 500,000 homes and businesses, not to mention hospitals and police stations.

SupportLocalNWA.com is an online marketplace to purchase gift card vouchers to locally-owned, small businesses across Northwest Arkansas.

Walmart Inc. of Bentonville announced plans this past week to hire 150,000 workers through the end of May to help with the surge in online orders in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In a shift from offense to defense, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) is redeploying funds typically used for job creation projects to instead support existing Arkansas businesses that are being hurt by the economic slowdown associated with the coronavirus outbreak.

Even as many private businesses and public spaces close their doors in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, staff and faculty with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture are using alternate means to assist Arkansans.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. of Lowell said it would pay a $500 bonus for drivers and field personnel for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entergy shareholders have committed $700,000 to the fund to help qualifying customers with basic needs such as food and nutrition, rent and mortgage assistance.

It’s time for some real honesty now. As a business owner, creditor and debtor with the COVID-19 virus threat in full swing, I can admit that I’m scared. The business I own has ground to a halt. And the business that I used to own but sold my interest in and owes me has slowed considerably.

We should continue to get an idea of the economic impact of the pandemic through various data points this week.

The retail sector is reeling from the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak and the protocol around social distancing that has temporarily shuttered more than 47,000 chain stores as consumers are staying home.