26Mar2020 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Caves After High Jobless Claims, DOW Down 238 Points, WTI Crude Not Moving At 23.64, US Dollar Down To 100.26, Gold Up To 1624

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are sharply lower today with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 2.80% while Germany’s DAX is off 2.75% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 2.27%.

Ten signs the oil industry is bent out of shape

The oil industry has been hit by a simultaneous demand and supply shock in March as the coronavirus pandemic cuts fuel consumption and top producer Saudi Arabia raises output to full capacity to fight a price war with rivals.

‘Apocalypse now’: Airlines turn to cargo for revenue as U.S. Senate approves aid package

Delta Air Lines Inc and Air New Zealand Ltd said they would offer cargo charter services on passenger planes to boost revenue as the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill to give its carriers $58 billion in aid, including payroll support.

Asian stocks scratch gains but lose steam on U.S. job jitters

Asian stocks eked out gains on Thursday, but the week’s rally lost steam as investors seemed torn between relief at the agreement of a huge U.S. stimulus package and dread over a likely spike in jobless claims and coronavirus cases.

Newly jobless Americans worry about making ends meet

Optician Ali Nelson sent the final few orders of eyeglasses to clients last week before her Washington D.C.-based store closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Airbus says reducing wing production for three weeks

Airbus SE is reducing the production of aircraft wings for three weeks as it slows operations to put in place extra health and safety measures due to the coronavirus pandemic, the planemaker said on Thursday.

U.S. Senate passes $2 trillion bill for ‘strange and evil’ coronavirus crisis

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday unanimously backed a $2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic, as well as providing billions of dollars to buy urgently needed medical equipment.

Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world

Coronavirus cases across the globe jumped on Thursday as Japan planned to set up a special virus task force and New Zealand went under lockdown. The U.S. Senate unanimously backed a $2 trillion bill aimed at helping unemployed workers and industries hurt by the epidemic.

U.S. braces for record surge in jobless claims amid coronavirus fallout

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits likely raced to as high as a record 4 million last week as strict measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic ground the country to a sudden halt, unleashing a wave of layoffs.

China, U.S. to set aside differences in G20 coronavirus summit: SCMP

China and the United States are expected to call a timeout on their coronavirus blame game and focus on the challenges of the pandemic when leaders of the G20 nations hold talks via video conference on Thursday, the South China Morning Post said.

A Record 3.3 Million Americans Just Filed For Unemployment Benefits

A Record 3.3 Million Americans Just Filed For Unemployment Benefits

The pace at which Americans are losing their jobs is absolutely breathtaking. According to the Wall Street Journal, the largest number of new claims for unemployment benefits ever recorded in a single week prior to this year was 695,000 during the week that ended October 2nd, 1982.

So that means that what we are now witnessing is completely unprecedented, as The US Department of Labor reports a stunning increase of 3.3 million people sought initial jobless claims last week amid the virus lockdowns (almost double the expectation of a 1.7million increase).

Italian, Greek, Spanish Bonds Soar After ECB Starts Buying Under Emergency Program

Italian, Greek, Spanish Bonds Soar After ECB Starts Buying Under Emergency Program

One can time almost to the dot the moment the ECB started buying European (mostly peripheral) bonds under the central bank’s latest QE facility.

At just around 4am ET, a wave of buying pushed European peripheral debt sharply higher, sparking speculation that the central bank was in the market.

The Pandemic Is Accelerating The Breakdown That Began A Decade Ago

The Pandemic Is Accelerating The Breakdown That Began A Decade Ago

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

The feedback loop has reversed: by saving more, people will spend, borrow and speculate less, draining the fuel from any broadbased expansion.

In eras of confidence and certainty, people save less and spend more freely. When we’re confident that good times are not only here but will continue, we not only spend more freely, we’re more inclined to borrow money and speculate on the shimmering promises of more good times ahead.

In eras of uncertainty, people save more and spend, borrow and speculate less. There is an obvious feedback loop here: if people feel confident about their future prospects and have a measure of certainty about the general economic trend, they spend more, borrow more and speculate more, all of which feed the expansive mood that then encourages further spending, borrowing and speculating.

If their confidence collapses and the future is deeply uncertain, people save more as a hedge against bad things happening in the economy that could trigger hardships in their own household.

With this in mind, it’s interesting to look at a long-term chart of the U.S. savings rate, courtesy of the St. Louis Federal Reserve database (FRED). It’s easy to discern the waxing and waning of confidence / certainty in the decline or expansion of savings.

The broadbased prosperity of the 1960s is reflected in the high savings rate as cheap …

This Is The Most Important US Data This Week

This Is The Most Important US Data This Week

Submitted by Christopher Dembik of Saxobank

Summary:Â Â Today at 12:30 GMT, weekly U.S. jobless claims data will be released for the week ending March 21. It is the most important U.S. statistics this week as it will give an early indication of how much the COVID-19 outbreak is damaging the economy and the job market.

Estimates of jobless claims range from around 1 million to 4 million for the previous week (Southbay expects 2.5MM as shown below), which has never been seen in modern history.

Rajan on why keeping 1.3 bn Indians home may not be enough

Rajan on why keeping 1.3 bn Indians home may not be enough œIt may be hard to prevent infections from spreading, the former Reserve Bank of India Governor said.

India gives its poor Rs 1.7L cr Covid relief

India gives its poor Rs 1.7L cr Covid reliefThe FM announced a slew of measures to ease the burden on the poor who will be hit hard by the lockdown.

How to save small cos from dying of virus

How to save small cos from dying of virusThis has been a particularly distressing time for small businesses and SMEs who stare at an uncertain future.

Economic Report: A record 3.28 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week due to coronavirus

The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week rocketed to a record 3.28 million as large parts of the U.S. economy shut down and companies laid off scores of workers to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Outside the Box: 7 tech stocks likely to recover quickly from the coronavirus

Apple, Amazon and others look strongest.

The Ratings Game: Nike could come out of the coronavirus in a position of strength, UBS says

Nike Inc. shoppers who couldn’t get to stores that were shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic flocked to e-commerce channels during the fiscal third quarter.