Archives of “March 2020” month

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Japan said to tell IOC that they are ready to accept Olympics delay if decided

  
  Analysis

Kyodo News reports on the matter

It looks like Japan is slowly coming to terms with the notion the Olympics may not take place in the summer this year. They are now leaning towards the idea of postponing the dates but remain adamant that the games will not be cancelled altogether.

That said, even a postponement will deal a serious blow to Japan due to the costs of scheduling and organising everything to fall into place this summer.

Goldman Sachs expects global real GDP to contract by about 1% this year

  
Analysis, Economy

The firm continues with the doom and gloom scenario

  • Expects real GDP in advanced economies to contract very sharply in Q2
  • That includes a 24% drop in the US
  • Based on partial count of state releases, estimates that 2.25 million Americans filed an initial jobless claim last week
We’ve heard these predictions previously here and here during the course of the week. But make no doubt, the jobless claims report this week is going to be a real shocker.
The peak during the 2008-09 crisis was 665K and the release this time around should comfortably exceed that with expectations to double at the very least.
US

Nikkei 225 closes higher by 2.02% at 16,887.78

  
Analysis, Global Indices

The Nikkei is the exception to the rule to start the trading week

Nikkei 23-02

And this mostly comes after Japan had a long weekend with the BOJ continuing to buy up ETFs as well. Notably, Softbank shares are rebounding strongly after the company committed to more share buybacks earlier in the day.

Elsewhere in the region, it is but a bloodbath as the Hang Seng is down by over 4% with Chinese equities seeing over 2% losses on the day.
Indian stocks are experiencing the biggest losses though, with the Sensex now down by over 11% after trading was halted earlier after hitting a circuit breaker.

In the currencies space, the risk-off mood is helping to keep the yen underpinned with the dollar slightly on the back foot as USD/JPY trades at 109.85 currently.
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