19Mar2020 Market Close: Wall Street Closes In The Green, DOW Up 188 Points, WTI Crude Rose 24% Today To $25.22 A Barrel, US Dollar Rose To 102.84, Cash Is King, Gold Has Gone Nowhere

U.S. oil surges 20% after three-day sell off

U.S. oil prices rose 20% on Thursday, recouping some losses from a sell-off that drove prices to near 20-year lows, but analysts saw the rebound as a brief reprieve, anticipating more weakness as the coronavirus outbreak takes its toll on global demand.

Trump says he will enter Saudi-Russia oil fray at appropriate time

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would get involved in the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia at the appropriate time, saying low gasoline prices were good for U.S. consumers even as they were hurting the industry.

H&M issues notice of temporary lay-offs to 2,000 staff in Norway: DN

Swedish retailer H&M has sent notice of temporary lay-offs to 2,000 employees in Norway due to the coronavirus outbreak, Norwegian business daily Dagens Naeringsliv reported on Thursday, citing the head of the Norwegian business.

Bank of England cuts rates to 0.1%, ramps up bond-buying

The Bank of England cut interest rates to 0.1% on Thursday, its second emergency rate cut in just over a week, and promised 200 billion pounds of bond purchases in a fresh attempt to shield Britain’s economy from the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump says he would support government taking stake in certain companies

President Donald Trump on Thursday opened the door to a radical shift in the U.S. government’s relationship to private industry as the coronavirus outbreak upends the nation’s economy, saying he would back the government taking stakes in certain companies.

Exhausted Dutch minister leading coronavirus fight quits

The minister leading the Dutch government’s fight against the coronavirus resigned on Thursday, a day after collapsing from exhaustion during a parliamentary debate on the epidemic.

CDC reports 10,491 coronavirus cases, 150 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 10,491 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 3,404 from its previous count, and said the death toll had risen by 53 to 150, the biggest one-day jump so far.

Wall Street ekes out gains as Fed steps in

Wall Street tried to bounce back on Thursday from dramatic losses in the previous session, as policymakers around the world pulled out all the stops to try and stave off a deep and lasting coronavirus-driven recession.

Exclusive: Ferrari and Fiat look at helping Italy make ventilators in coronavirus crisis

Italian carmakers Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler are in talks with the nation’s biggest ventilator manufacturer to help to boost production of the life-saving machines that are urgently needed in the coronavirus crisis, company officials said on Thursday.

For The First Time Since The 1970s, Texas Is Considering Curtailing Oil Production

For The First Time Since The 1970s, Texas Is Considering Curtailing Oil Production

Following the 2014 Thanksgiving massacre, Saudi Arabia effectively broke up OPEC to try to kill the US shale sector by overproducing oil and sending its price plunging. It failed largely thanks to the extreme generosity of “yield-starved” junk bond buyers.

Six years later, and another, far more harrowing price water later which dragged the price of oil to nearly two decade lows, Saudi Arabia appears to have finally won.

Texas regulators are considering curtailing oil production in America’s largest oil-producing state, “something they haven’t done in decades”, the WSJ reports citing sources. Additionally, the report goes on to note that several oil executives have reached out to members of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the industry, requesting relief following an oil-price crash which soared the most on record on Tuesday and closed around $25, still 17% down on the week. In other words, oil is joining every other US industry (including movie theaters) in seeking a bailout.

Texas, which along with New Mexico, hasn’t limited oil production since the 1970s, and is the home of the Permian Basin, America’s most productive oil field and the epicenter of the shale revolution which started 12 years ago and has made America into the world’s top oil producer, with roughly 13mmb/d in output. It has also become Saudi Arabia’s top global competitor.

The Median US Stock Is Now Down 50% From Its Highs As World Loses $25 Trillion In A Month

The Median US Stock Is Now Down 50% From Its Highs As World Loses $25 Trillion In A Month

Global stock and bond markets have seen $25 trillion of ‘paper’ wealth erased in the last month, wiping out all the gains from the Dec 2018 crash lows….

“Extra Hairy” – Beware The Ides Of Tomorrow’s March Quad-Witch Options Expiry

“Extra Hairy” – Beware The Ides Of Tomorrow’s March Quad-Witch Options Expiry

œIt could be an extra hairy quadruple witching…

That’s the ominous warning from Henry Schwartz, founder of options data provider Trade Alert, ahead of tomorrow’s major option expirations. As The Wall Street Journal reports, tomorrow is shaping up as potentially one of the most volatile trading days in years, as scheduled changes in futures, options and other derivatives markets threaten to add to a frenzied trading month that has already had some of the biggest daily stock-index swings ever.

The Surge In Cross-Asset Correlation Causes Two Big Problems

The Surge In Cross-Asset Correlation Causes Two Big Problems

By Masanari Takada of Nomura

Summary

Investors seem unimpressed by the swift fiscal and monetary measures now being put into place in major countries around the world. Investor sentiment is still mired deep in negative territory in countries worldwide, and conditions look conducive to successive bouts of panic selling. The coronavirus crisis is not merely putting a squeeze on economic activity and the credit cycle; it also appears to be giving added momentum to the isolationist/protectionist tendencies that have taken root in many countries. If we may venture a suspicion without offering much support, we think that the market’s unusual degree of fear is about more than the COVID-19 outbreak; we think that investors are also casting an eye to what may be the irreparable damage being done to the notion of an interconnected market economy with a level playing field (read: globalism) as a result of the US-China trade war and the coronavirus crisis.

The deterioration in investor sentiment is driving fire-sale conditions in the markets for major risk assets. We believe that CTAs and other trend-following algorithmic investors are playing a secondary role in the sell-off, as it appears that they have been pressed by low liquidity and high volatility into tentatively entering into risk-off trades. We discern, for example, a preference among CTAs for short positions in DJIA futures and crude oil futures and long positions in USD. That said, the extreme price swings in these markets are far beyond what CTAs could bring about on their own. We think it makes s …

How India can fix its slowdown-hit, virus-infected economy

How India can fix its slowdown-hit, virus-infected economyIndia can, and should, exploit this crisis to bring about significant change in its near-term economic policies.

Voda Idea’s survival hinges on SC decision

Voda Idea’s survival hinges on SC decisionEven if payments are spread over 20 years, the telco will have to pay over Rs 5,200 crore in annual payouts.

Govt readies bailout plan for virus-hit sectors

Govt readies bailout plan for virus-hit sectorsThe government is assessing the situation as there has been a significant impact on the economy, as per sources.

February 2020 Leading Economic Index Marginally Improved But Does Not Reflect The Impact Of The Coronavirus

Written by Steven Hansen

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. is up 0.1 % in February to 112.1 (2016 = 100). – and the authors say “The U.S. LEI rose slightly in February, but it doesn’t reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which began to hit the U.S. economy in full by early March”.

In just one week, Microsoft adds as many users to its Teams collaboration software as rival Slack has in total

Microsoft and Slack are sprucing up their work-at-home tech solutions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Tell: Hedge-fund manager: Market ‘purging’ could lead to a plunge of ‘at least 74%’

Back in February, Kevin Smith, hedge fund manager at Crescat Capital, urged investors to resist the temptation to buy the dip as he pushed his œmacro trade of the century. He certainly nailed it.

Capitol Report: Here’s how Washington wants to strengthen America’s health-care system as the coronavirus spreads

Here are some of Washington’s proposals for new health-care spending, along with what already has been signed into law.