Tesla second quarter deliveries rise

DETROIT (AP) — Tesla says it delivered more electric vehicles worldwide in the second quarter than it did in the first. The increase came even though coronavirus restrictions forced it to shut down its only U.S. factory for much of the period.

The company says it delivered 90,650 vehicles from April through June as it rolled out the new Model Y SUV in the U.S. and China. That’s a 2.5% increase over the first quarter’s 88,400. But it was a 4.8% drop from the second quarter of 2019, when Tesla delivered 95,200 vehicles.

Coronavirus restrictions adopted in the San Francisco Bay Area forced Tesla to close its only U.S. assembly plant in Fremont, California, for almost two months starting March 23. It didn’t reopen until May 11.

The Palo Alto, California, company said it delivered 10,600 of its older Models, the S sedan and X SUV. The newer Y small SUV and Model 3 smaller car accounted for the bulk of the sales at 80,050.

The sales performance beat Wall Street estimates of 72,000 for the second quarter, according to FactSet.

Europe contains jobless rate

SPERLONGA, Italy (AP) — Europe has limited the rise in unemployment caused by the pandemic with a wide array of government support programs, but that cannot hide widespread economic distress and anxiety among workers and small business owners.

First the good news: the unemployment rate in the 19 countries that use the euro only inched higher in May, to 7.4% from 7.3% in April, official figures showed Thursday. Governments used labor market support programs to cushion the impact of the virus outbreak on workers.

European governments pay part of workers’ salaries in return for companies not laying them off. Governments have also deployed an array of loan programs and other assistance aimed at employers like Marco Chinappi, whose family runs the three-star Hotel Mayor in Sperlonga, an Italian beach town down the coast from Rome.

He was able to take advantage of a state-guaranteed bank loan of 25,000 euros ($28,000) at a low interest rate as well as measures to postpone paying some taxes. That helped him hire back his two seasonal workers, who each get 600 euros in support payments from the government.