1) Oil prices have crashed to an eighteen year low as coronavirus lockdowns cascaded through the world economies, which have drastically cut oil demand. The surplus in oil stocks is ballooning amid the Saudi Arabia and Russia’s dispute over struggle for oil control. The slump in petroleum based products has shut down refineries around the world. Prices are on track for the worst quarter on record. There are no signs of Saudi Arabia and Russia’s dispute being resolved as Saudi Arabia increases its production to further increase surpluses of oil thereby dropping oil prices more.
2) The coronavirus pandemic is expected to drive March auto sales off a cliff, from consumer confidence dropping and shuttered dealerships across much of the country. It’s expected that April may be as bad as or worst than March. Sales forecast for March has dropped 37% and April could be off between 50% and 60%. States under ‘stay at home’ orders have seen an 80% drop in auto sales.
3) With millions of Americans already laid off, fears among experts that job losses could be as high as 47 million to give an unemployment rate of 32%. The loses are a result of government induced economic freeze to contain the spread of the virus. A record 3.3 million Americans have filed initial jobless claims for the week ending 21 March of this year, with an estimated 66.8 million workers consider to be in jobs at high risk for layoff. With a loss of 47 million jobs, the unemployment rolls would rise to 52.8 million, or more than three times the peak number of unemployment in the 2008 Great Recession.
4) Stock market closings for – 30 MAR 20:
Dow 22,327.48 up 690.70
Nasdaq 7,774.15 up 271.77
S&P 500 2,626.65 up 85.18
10 Year Yield: down at 0.67%
Oil: down at $20.28