The financial markets today are still reeling from yesterday’s decision by the Federal Reserve to implement an emergency cut, which caused stock indices to turn red. The Fed stated that the possible damage the coronavirus will cause to the global economy cannot yet be estimated, but they hope that the rate cut will support consumers and businesses in the US and protect the economy from the worst of it.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is also holding an emergency meeting to decide how to handle the coronavirus. However, as it became known after yesterday’s G7 call, the ECB would prefer to leave it to each country to decide for itself. The only thing central banks agreed on yesterday is to keep an eye on liquidity and ensure there is enough cash to go around in the event of an emergency. Many are calling for a preemptive rate cut by the ECB, but it might have to wait until the upcoming policy meeting scheduled for March 12.
Aside from the crisis control news, this week the preliminaries in the United States have also been crucial, with Super Tuesday happening yesterday. Two of the presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, have now officially dropped out of the race, leaving Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren to battle it out for the nomination.
Joe Biden emerged as the big winner after Super Tuesday, showing that his campaign is not dead after all. Right now Biden and Sanders are the top two candidates fighting for the nomination to run against Donald Trump in November. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s results have not been very good so far, though she is still not backing down.
