Wall Street Journal (March 4)
“The Federal Reserve has become the default doctor for whatever ails the U.S. economy, and on Tuesday the financial physician applied what it hopes will be monetary balm for the economic damage from the coronavirus.” Alas “financial markets were underwhelmed.” This “may speak to the limited effect that lower interest rates can have on the supply shock of a pandemic.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Damage, Economy, Fed, Interest rates, Markets, Monetary balm, Supply shock, U.S., Underwhelmed
Investment Week (March 3)
“If China fails to get ‘back to work’ and is unable to cushion the impact of the coronavirus by April the ‘global ramifications will be enormous.’” At a recent Investment Week Conference, Karen Ward, chief market strategist for EMEA at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, also urged investors to “keep an eye on figures tracking Chinese coal consumption and labour migration as key indicators of the growing impact on the country’s economy.”
Tags: China, Coal, Consumption, Coronavirus, EMEA, Global ramifications, Impact, Indicators, Investors, J.P. Morgan, Labour, Migration
Financial Times (March 2)
“Europe as a whole, the UK included, should prepare for two foreseeable material economic shocks this year: a spread in the coronavirus and a WTO Brexit.” This may help create “the perfect storm for an economy dependent on exports and global supply chains.”
Tags: Brexit, Coronavirus, Economic shocks, Europe, Exports, Foreseeable, Material, Supply chains, UK, WTO
Institutional Investor (March 2)
“Some hedge funds do hedge after all. In the face of one of the sharpest weekly selloffs in recent decades, a slew of funds wound up making money in February. As a result, they remain in the black for the year to date.”
Tags: February, Hedge funds Hedge, Making money, Selloffs
Bloomberg (March 1)
“China’s lockdown measures to minimize further coronavirus infections have created one unexpected benefit—a dramatic improvement to the nation’s air quality.” Satellite imagery is detecting “significant drops of major airborne pollutants above vast swathes of the country.”
Tags: Air quality, Airborne, China, Coronavirus, Infections, Lockdown, Satellite
Forbes (February 28)
Japan’s Q4 6.3% GDP “plunge is a harsh wakeup call,” but the “talk of the Olympics being scrapped” is actually “an opportunity to refocus on what really matter. If Abe had used the last several years doing heavy lifting on reform rather than betting it all on Olympic glory, Japan would have greater endurance. It’s time Tokyo got to work actually creating a brighter future. Not just staging one.”
