“Stock markets in Europe and the US are braced for their biggest falls since the 2008 financial crisis after the trading week began with panic selling amid the double threat of a coronavirus-driven global recession and an oil-price war.
“[There were] huge losses on Asian markets on Monday, where fears about the worsening worldwide economic slowdown were exacerbated by the shock decision by Saudi Arabia over the weekend to increase oil production in an attempt to drive competitors such as Russia and the US out of the market.
“The price of Brent crude oil fell nearly 30% to $31.14 on Monday, its biggest single fall since the start of the first Gulf war in 1991.”
“If the new coronavirus Covid-19 turns into a global pandemic, economists at Rabobank foresee an economic recession in large parts of the world, including the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Italy, and the United States.
“”This economic crisis could become even worse if it turned into a financial crisis, for example when the number of bankruptcies increase sharply worldwide,” the Rabobank economists said, the Telegraaf reports.”
https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/09/coronavirus-trigger-global-recession-rabobank
“Germany announced measures to boost its sputtering economy in the face of the fast-spreading COVID-19 on Monday (Mar 9), while also calling for the cancellation of large events…
“Berlin… pledged to draw up proposals on offering liquidity support for companies hardest hit by the impact of the outbreak.”
“Italy is studying a state guarantee scheme to support banks offering debt moratoriums to households and companies, a member of the government said on Monday, as a coronavirus outbreak hits the economy….
“Italy’s banking lobby has asked European authorities to ease rules on problem loans for at least six months.”
“Lebanon is set to default on its debts for the first time on Monday as its foreign currency reserves plummet to critically low levels.”
https://www.ft.com/content/bda10536-6145-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68
““Central banks across emerging markets are, on the one hand, facing huge sell-offs in their currencies; and on the other hand, a slowdown in growth,” Cedric Chehab, head of country risk and global strategy at Fitch Solutions, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”
““So what do they do? Do they cut interest rates to stimulate growth or do they raise interest rates to support their currencies? I think a lot of central banks are going to be squeezed by this policy dilemma now,” he added.”
“South Africa’s currency has taken the mother of all tumbles on Monday morning, beginning the week in disastrous fashion. The rand value for Monday 9 March is down 8% against the US dollar, marking one of the steepest drops in history. ZAR is also performing poorly against a number of international markets.”
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/finance/zar-exchange-rate-dollar-to-rand-value-monday-9-march/
“Shares in Indian banks slumped to a more than 13-month low on Monday as the crisis at Yes Bank Ltd. spooked investors and sparked concerns about the broader sector…
“”Noting the collapse of Yes Bank comes close on the heels of a string of other collapses, Ganapathy said it was shaking “depositor confidence in the financial system.””
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1638841/business-economy
“BNZ has become the first major bank to predict a recession, forecasting that the economy will shrink in the first half of the year.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12315108
“Australia’s economy will record its first recession since 1991 as the hit from China’s virus-induced slowdown is amplified by slumping confidence and domestic disruptions from the outbreak intensifying Down Under, according to Bloomberg Economics’s James McIntyre.”
https://time.com/5799353/australia-recession-coronavirus/
“Japan’s biggest contraction [7.1%] in more than five years adds to escalating concerns among policymakers about the length of a likely recession in the world’s third-largest economy as the impact of the coronavirus and a plunge in oil prices causes markets to slide and the yen to gain.”
“China’s exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, and imports declined, as the health crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.”
“The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury — which dropped below 1% for the first time earlier this week — dropped to a record low of 0.74%. The 30-year Treasury yield also slid to 1.34%, another record low.
“”The bond market is scaring the raccoons out of the air ducts like crazy right now,” Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, said in a morning note.”
“The world is in a period of “true turmoil,” with financial markets and economies in crisis while the new coronavirus continues to spread rapidly, oil guru Daniel Yergin told CNBC.”
“As the coronavirus outbreak rattles the Dow Jones, nervy investors are drawing parallels to the stock market crash that accompanied the 2008 financial crisis.
“But one Wall Street bear warns that this equities bubble mirrors an even more terrifying downturn: the Great Depression.”
https://www.ccn.com/this-is-1929-hedge-fund-bear-warns-of-great-depression-style-stock-market-crash/
“…most mortgages will eventually have to be rewritten as lease agreements so that people can stay in their homes during the very hard times that are coming… But the mortgage market is just nickel-and-dime stuff compared to the global derivatives market…
“It is the precipitous drop in the price of crude oil that most threatens the financial Ponzi scheme.”
https://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/deflation-and-the-pandemic-202003082251
“Central Banks Have Lost Firepower, Kaufman Says… Recent rate cut won’t address a crisis, former Salomon Brothers economist says…
“…the central bank is now going to be hard-pressed to respond appropriately to economic and market crises…”
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