Mid Term
Oil hits an 18-year low–worse to come as world runs out of storage
As of noon New York time, today March 30, U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell another 5.67% to $20.29 a barrel. International benchmark Brent dropped 9.83% to $22.45 a barrel. That's an 18-year low for oil. And worse is yet to come. The world has run out of...
What are the chances of a second wave of coronavirus cases in China?
One of the most hopeful signs in the fight against the global coronavirus pandemic is the decline of new cases in China after that country's draconian quarantine. As of Sunday, the country had reported a string of four days with no new domestically-sources cases. (New...
Why the economic damage from the coronavirus slowdown could last through the end of 2020
Remember way back a couple of weeks ago. In February the consensus was that the slowdown in revenue and earnings from the coronavirus pandemic would last for the first quarter of 2020. Corporate guidance reflected that view with companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) telling...
The U.S. hospital system burns while Washington fiddles
The math is very clear and extremely disturbing. The numbers certainly argue that the coronavirus has the ability to crash the U.S. healthcare system--which would leave hospitals and other healthcare facilities conducting triage among patients with serious cases of...
The bond markets are charging more for risk
The yield spread between investment-grade corporate bonds and Treasuries climbed 11 basis points on Wednesday to 183 basis points. That's the biggest spread since 2016. The spread between high-yield (junk) bonds (with credit ratings below investment grade) also ended...
IMF tosses out old global growth forecast
The International Monetary Fund has torn up its growth forecasts for the global economy in 2020. But it hasn't yet offered a new forecast, saying uncertainties about the coronavirus pandemic make a new projection too difficult . The fund’s managing director,...
CDC warns of community spread of coronavirus in United States
In India today President Donald Trump told journalists that coronavirus is “very well under control in our country” and “is going to go away.” Meanwhile back in the United States the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the coronavirus outbreak...
With a China trade truce in place, the U.S.-European trade war moves to front burner
Well, that certainly didn't take long. With the ink barely dry on the Part 1 trade agreement between the United States and China, the European Union said that the deal could violate the rules of the World Trade Organization. EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said his...
A year of great returns (2019) can lead to a year of stupid investing behavior (2020)–will you fall into the trap?
It's obvious when you think about it why a year with great investing returns--like the 33% total return (with dividends) on the Standard & Poor's 500 in 2019--should lead to a year of stupid investing behavior. A year of great returns exerts powerful pressure...
India’s central bank flashes warning sign for all global financial markets
Of course, the Reserve Bank of India didn't mean to issue a warning to all global financial markets. The minutes of the central bank's December 3-5 meeting, released today, focus on the need to hold its benchmark interest rate at 5.15% after delivering 135 basis...
Inflation isn’t exactly dead
Wall Street is counting on the Federal Reserve to stay on the sidelines until September and then resume cutting interest rates. Some big money advisors are even counting on the Fed to cut interest rates again before September. Bloomberg ran an interview this morning...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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