Archives of “February 2020” month

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China’s Hubei province has reported 14,840 new coronavirus cases

  
  Analysis
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Big number of new coronavirus cases reported from the province. As of end Feb 12.

Wuhan is the epicentre of the epidemic, capital of Hubei
The authorities in Hubei have revised their diagnostic standard for coronavirus cases.
242 deaths on Feb 12
  • Death toll in the province now totals 1,310.
Risk trades taking a beating oin the news
  • CNH down
  • S&P 500 futures on Globex down
AUD/JPY ditto:
Big number of new coronavirus cases reported from the province. As of end Feb 12.

Moody’s weighs in on coronavirus economic impacts – could continue over next 3 quarters

  
Analysis, Economy
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Moody’s now:

  • says despite some turbulence, APC airports can weather coronavirus challenges
  • financial impact for APAC airports larger than suggested by passenger volumes at risk
  • says suggests travel between Asian destinations could be significantly affected over at least next 2-3 quarters due to coronavirus

Moody’s focused on airport/travel impacts – tourist movements are significant indeed in Asia (and elsewhere of course), business-related travel also.  There are significant flow-on effects from a reduced inbound flow of tourists, offset to some extent by locals otherwise taking holidays domestically.

S&P says coronavirus outbreak will cut 0.5% from Australia’s real GDP growth in 2020

  
Analysis, Economy
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The ratings agency a bit downbeat on Australia’s GDP, but on the bright side:

  • S&P says economic impact of coronavirus unlikely to negatively affect Australia’s sovereign rating
  • says short, temporary delay in balancing government budget unlikely to strain Australia’s creditworthiness

Fitch is on the lookout for coronavirus economic impacts – on trade, ports, output & more

  
  Analysis
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E’ryone seems to have chilled on the virus impacts on economies.

All it took was a bit of number juggling:
  • China has changed its definition of ‘confirmed cases’ in latest coronavirus guidelines
Fitch is not quite so mellow:
  • says global ports vulnerable to coronavirus-related volume declines
  • says decreased production in China because of extended work holiday & factory closures will affect import & export volumes in Q1 2020
  • some rated APAC ports will be affected if slowdown in trade is prolonged due to coronavirus
  • if more firms suspend Chinese operations or withdraw from production in China due to coronavirus shipping volume may take longer to recover
  • Middle East export volumes will be hurt by significant declines in Chinese demand for oil
  • reduced trade due to virus exacerbates effects of 2018-2019 trade barriers on US west coast port volumes in particular
  • rated Australian coal export terminals to see volume impact from prolonged slowdown in industrial activity in china due to coronavirus
  • US-China trade levels expected to pick up with phase 1 of trade deal may take longer to take hold due to virus-related production slowdown
E'ryone seems to have chilled on the virus impacts on economies.

How many different ways can you say “Record close for US indices”?

  
Analysis, US Market
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Major US indices close at records and near highs for the day

How many different ways can you say “Record close for the US indices?”  It is like a broken record.

The final numbers are showing:
  • S&P index +21.64 points or 0.64% at 3379.40
  • NASDAQ index +87.01 points was +0.90% at 9725.96
  • Dow +275.08 points or 0.94% at 29551.42

Some of the oversize winners today include:

  • First solar, +4.86%
  • United health, +4.36%
  • Micron, +3.55%
  • AliBaba, +3.33%
  • Daimler, +3.19%
  • Twitter, +3.18%
  • Walgreen boots, +2.83%
  • Caterpillar, +2.55%
  • Apple, +2.3%
  • United Airlines, +2.10%
  • Qualcomm, +1.93%
Some of the losers today include:
  • Lyft, -10.24%
  • Beyond Meats, -1.99%
  • Phillip Morris, -1.75%
  • Gilead, -1.2%
  • Stryker, -0.93%
  • Pfizer, -0.92%
  • Amgen, -0.83%
  • Tesla, -0.82%
  • Lockheed Martin, -0.78%
  • Procter & Gamble, -0.60%
  • J&J, -0.57%

European shares end with solid gains

  
Analysis, Global Indices

German DAX +0.89%

The European shares are ending the day with solid gains, led by the German DAX which is trading up 0.89%
A look at the closes shows:
  • German DAX, +0.89%
  • France’s CAC, +0.75%
  • UK’s FTSE 100, +0.5%
  • Spain’s Ibex, +0.48%
  • Italy’s FTSE MIB, +0.75%
Below are the ranges for the major indices in Europe. Most are closing toward the upper end of the low to high trading range

European shares close higherPS, the NASDAQ index and S&P index are trading near session highs. The Dow is in the middle of the trading range but still higher on the day.

More Powell testimony: Will see virus impact in data fairly soon

  
  Analysis
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More from chair Powell’s testimony in the Senate

  • we will see virus-infected data fairly soon
  • affects could be important in China
  • supply chains is an important issue.
  • Financial markets can also transmit a reaction to virus

Fed Powell concludes his testimony at 11:24 AM ET.

Overall, the comments were in line with yesterday’s testimony and really didn’t shed any new light that we don’t already know. Coronavirus major concern but it’s too early to tell. The Fed is in continue repo operations the 2nd quarter. The economy is in a good place.
US stocks have been waffling back and forth but moving back higher. The S&P index is just off the day’s high level as is the NASDAQ index. The Dow industrial average is a little further off the intraday record high levels
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