Today, the markets are in recovery mode. Yesterday was quite tough, thanks to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which is now dying down in Asia but flaring up in other countries, as well as the collapse of the oil market as Saudi Arabia and Russia began pumping more oil, abandoning all past volume restrictions.
According to the latest information, Russia could survive trading oil at its current prices for about a decade, while Saudi Arabia is already at a loss. The United States can continue trading at the lowest prices among the three due to shale oil being cheaper to produce, which is why the US won the biggest chunk of the oil market in recent years.
Now we are seeing stock indices around the world recuperate after the initial shock. These include the United States, Europe, even China and Hong Kong. Notably, indices today gained less than they lost yesterday, so technically the week so far has still been a losing one.
Speaking of the coronavirus, President Trump’s earlier statements that the 15 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the United States will go down to zero proved completely false, with now over 700 confirmed infected patients, and more in quarantine. Trump’s own chief of staff is under quarantine as well. Thus, the US President reluctantly announced a special stimulus package that will target the outbreak and its most hard-hit victims.
Meanwhile, the number of patients suffering from the coronavirus in Italy has increased, surpassing 9,000, thus making Italy the second-most affected country after China (surpassing South Korea and leaving it in third place). Schools and universities in Italy will remain closed until April across the whole country; many other European countries are employing the same measures to limit the spread of the virus.
Today there will be another round of primaries in the United States, which will further show how Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are doing in the polls.
