07Apr2020 Midday Update: Wall Street Gains On Signs Of Coronavirus Slowdown, At 1 PM DOW Up 681 Points, WTI Crude Down Fractionally At 25.99, US Dollar Weaker At 99.89

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are sharply higher today with shares in Brazil leading the region. The Bovespa is up 7.04% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 2.75% and Mexico’s IPC is up 1.88%.

Goldman Sachs must face class action over conflicts of interest, risky mortgages

Goldman Sachs Group Inc must face a shareholder class action accusing the bank of hiding conflicts of interest, including behind-the-scenes dealings with a prominent hedge fund manager, when creating risky subprime securities before the 2008 financial crisis.

Hopes of progress against virus lift stocks, weigh on dollar

World stock markets posted sharp gains on Tuesday as signs of progress in curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus in both Europe and the United States fueled investors’ appetite for risk.

U.S. SEC’s Clayton says companies seeking bailouts must disclose plans, communicate with investors

The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday that companies in discussions about bailouts resulting from the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak should disclose to investors where they stand.

Side effects: Fuel demand crash shuts U.S. ethanol plants, meatpackers lack refrigerant

A slew of U.S. ethanol plants have shut down as fuel demand has collapsed during the coronavirus outbreak, and meatpackers have been hit by a worrying side-effect: less carbon dioxide is now available to chill beef, poultry and pork.

Exxon lops 30% off 2020 spending, deeper and later than rivals

Exxon Mobil Corp on Tuesday throttled back investment in shale, natural gas and deep water production, cutting planned capital spending by 30% this year as the coronavirus pandemic saps energy demand and oil prices tumble.

Big OPEC+ oil output cuts depend on U.S., others joining: sources

Saudi Arabia, Russia and allied oil producers will only agree to deep cuts to their crude output at talks this week if the United States and several others join in with curbs to help prop up prices that have been hammered by the coronavirus crisis.

Wall Street gains on signs of coronavirus slowdown

Wall Street rose on Tuesday as early signs of a slowdown in coronavirus cases in U.S. hot spots raised hopes that sweeping lockdown measures to contain the outbreak were working.

Southwest building June flight schedule to reflect ‘different phases of recovery’

Southwest Airlines Co said on Tuesday it would publish this week a new flight schedule for June 6 to June 27 with overall flight activity dropping by about 50% while taking into account “different phases of the recovery anticipated ahead.”

Exclusive: U.S. grants GE license to sell engines for China’s new airplane

The Trump administration on Tuesday granted a license to General Electric Co to supply engines for China’s new COMAC C919 passenger jet, a spokeswoman for the company said.

The 4 Phases Of A Full-Market Cycle

The 4 Phases Of A Full-Market Cycle

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

In a recent post, I discussed the œ3-stages of a bear market.   To wit:

œYes, the market will rally, and likely substantially so.  But, let me remind you of Bob Farrell’s Rule #8 from our recent newsletter:

Bear markets have three stages ” sharp down, reflexive rebound and a drawn-out fundamental downtrend

Bear markets often START with a sharp and swift decline.

After this decline, there is an oversold bounce that retraces a portion of that decline.

The longer-term decline then continues, at a slower and more grinding pace, as the fundamentals deteriorate.

Dow Theory also suggests that bear markets consist of three down legs with reflexive rebounds in between.

Trump Slams WHO For Kowtowing To Beijing, Hints US Will Take “A Good Look” At Funding

Trump Slams WHO For Kowtowing To Beijing, Hints US Will Take “A Good Look” At Funding

In what was by far his harshest criticism of the international agency to date, President Trump slammed the WHO in a tweet, accusing it of doing the bidding of China while taking the US’s money, and hinted that he would be giving American funding to the organization “a good look”, a statement that certainly won’t sit well with Trump’s critics, who will accuse the president of slashing funding to a vital public health institution in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic.

The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?

” Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2020

Though the WHO has been helpful in providing tests around the world, the agency has faced plenty of criticism for appearing to kowtow to Beijing and parrot its lies and propaganda.

US Treasury To Ask For $200 Billion More In Small Business Loans

US Treasury To Ask For $200 Billion More In Small Business Loans

Amid a surge in demand for the first tranche, the US Treasury is preparing to ask Congress for a further $200 billion for the small business lending program, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

In “Unprecedented” Move To Ease Conditions, ECB Cuts Collateral Haircuts By 20%, Will Accept Greek Debt As Collateral

In “Unprecedented” Move To Ease Conditions, ECB Cuts Collateral Haircuts By 20%, Will Accept Greek Debt As Collateral

For the past six years, and especially in 2015 when Yanis Varoufakis tried to stage a mutiny within the Eurozone and using some truly convoluted “game theory” ended up causing a near collapse of the Greek banking sector and the loss of hundreds of billions in deposits which the ECB held hostage, Greece had found itself in the Animal Farm position of being part of the Eurozone yet somehow its bonds were not at first not eligible for ECB purchases, and later, did not quality as collateral for Eurosystem credit operations.

That changed on Tuesday afternoon when, as part of a “unprecedented” and temporary (yeah, sure) package meant to ease collateral measures to “mitigate the tightening of financial conditions across the euro area” (read push stock prices higher), the ECB said it would grant a waiver to accept Greek sovereign debt instruments as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations. In short, the debt which as everyone found out 5 years ago was worthless excluding its ECB backstop, will now serve as money good collateral for countless banks which borrow against Greek bonds.

But the ECB’s decision to include Greek bonds as eligible collateral is just part of it: perhaps the biggest surprise is that the central banks decided to “temporarily increase its risk tolerance level in credit operations” through a general reduction of collateral valuation haircuts by a fixed factor of 20%.

This adjustment aims to contribute to the collateral easing measures while maintaining a consistent degree of protection …

Coronavirus may have shown India a new engine for growth

Coronavirus may have shown India a new engine for growthIndia can strive to break free of the middle-income trap by focusing on health infrastructure.

The sky is falling for India’s aviation sector

The sky is falling for India’s aviation sectorNovel coronavirus crisis is all set to take India’s aviation sector back by at least four to five years.

India to widen Covid testing as cases swell

India to widen Covid testing as cases swellICMR said it is considering some interventions to scale up testing capacity to 100,000 tests/day in coming months.

February 2020 Headline JOLTS Job Openings Rate Improved But Remains In Contraction

Written by Steven Hansen

The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) can be used as a predictor of future job growth, and the predictive elements show that the year-over-year growth rate of unadjusted private non-farm job openings improved but remains in contraction.

Coronavirus update: 1.38 million cases globally, 78,269 deaths and Wuhan reports zero deaths for first time since January

The Chinese city of Wuhan reported zero deaths Tuesday from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 for the first time since January, raising hopes that China’s extraordinary containment measures are having an effect and could be reproduced elsewhere.

CityWatch: ‘I’ve been through 9/11, but this is our first pandemic’ ” What a veteran NYC ER doctor is learning while caring for coronavirus patients

Dr. Billy Goldberg says the sheer volume of sick patients is ‘something we’ve never confronted before.’

In One Chart: Coronavirus crisis will leave 3 long-term scars, even if the economy recovers in fourth quarter, Pimco warns

The U.S. economy is in the midst of one of the deepest, most painful recessions the country has ever seen, but, as long as the pieces fall into place, it could also prove to be one of the shortest, according Pimco’s Joachim Fels.