Q&A: Why do markets rise even when the outlook is bleak? June 9, 2020 | City Talk The global economy is on track for its worst recession in nearly 100 years, yet April was the market’s best monthly performance in three decades and the S&P 500 has just turned positive for 2020. Why? The first quarter of 2020 has been tough for the global economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. [...]
Slumping economy, surging stock market– what’s going on? May 18, 2020 | City Talk While tens of millions of Americans were losing their jobs, the stock market in April produced its best monthly return in over 30 years. We look at what’s behind this apparent disconnect. 36 million Americans filed for unemployment claims over the past eight weeks. US GDP plunged by 4.8 per cent in the first quarter [...]
Covid-19: why the tech giants have emerged as winners May 12, 2020 | City Talk While many businesses struggle to survive under the global lockdown, the largest technology companies remain afloat and in some cases are even thriving. Microsoft has reported a surge in usage of its cloud computing service Azure, as millions of people work from home. Amazon is hiring an additional 75,000 workers, on top of the 100,000 [...]
US airline stocks buffeted by Warren’s surprise sell-off May 4, 2020 US airline stocks have dropped sharply today as markets reacted to veteran trader Warren Buffett’s decision to sell all of his firm’s stakes in the US’ four main carriers. At the end of last year, Berkshire Hathaway held considerable positions in the four, including 11 per cent of Delta, 10 per cent of American Airlines, [...]
Stocks sink as US manufacturing shrinks at ‘unprecedented rate’ May 1, 2020 US markets fell as trading opened today as manufacturing slumped at an unprecedented rate in April due to economic shutdowns caused by coronavirus. The S&P 500 fell 1.9 per cent to 2,856.14 points, the Dow Jones dropped 1.8 per cent to 23,901.77, and the Nasdaq fell 2.1 per cent to 2852.28. US factories saw output [...]
Downturns this deep can take a long time to recover from, financially and mentally April 16, 2020 | City Talk The stock market has declined by 25% or more on 11 occasions since 1871. The median recovery time from this point has been 1.8 years. Investors who shifted to cash after the 1929 crash faced a 34-year wait to break even, compared with 15 years for those who remained invested and less than 7 years [...]
Coronavirus: US consumer prices fall by largest amount in five years April 10, 2020 US consumer prices fell by the largest amount in five years in March due to the impact of coronavirus, with further decreases expected as the virus squeezes demand for goods and services. The US labor department said that the consumer price index dropped 0.4 per cent last month due to plummeting prices for petrol, hotels, [...]
Coronavirus: US stocks rise as Fed intervenes again April 9, 2020 US stocks have opened higher today after the US Federal Reserve committed an extra $2.3 trillion (£1.84 trillion) to shore up the struggling economy. The S&P 500 rose two per cent, the Dow Jones climbed nearly 2.1 per cent and the Nasdaq opened 0.9 per cent up. The rise means that the S&P 500 has [...]
Coronavirus shows the value of circuit breakers April 6, 2020 Market volatility is back with a vengeance. We’ve not seen this level of trading activity since 1987 and it has presented fresh challenges to global markets. Back in 1987, the trading infrastructure failed to cope, and the collapse of equities overwhelmed the trading communication systems of the time, which caused outages and left orders unfinished. [...]
Coronavirus: New York Stock Exchange to shift fully to online trading from 23 March March 18, 2020 The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will temporarily close its trading floors and move fully to electronic trading from Monday, its owner Intercontinental Exchange said after an employee and a trader were tested positive for the coronavirus. They were last in the exchange building on 13 March, the company said today. The facilities to be closed [...]