· CORONAVIRUS CRISIS UPDATES:
- Total confirmed cases: More than 784,440
- Total deaths: At least 37,781
- The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 200 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship.)
- US cases: At least 163,490 (+19,999), and deaths: 3,148 (+565)
- Italy cases: At least 101,739 (+4,050), and deaths: 11,591 (+812)
- Thailand cases: At least 1,524 (+136), and deaths: 9 (+2)
- U.S. Congress eyes next steps in coronavirus response
Three days after passing a $2.2 trillion package aimed at easing the heavy economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Congress was looking on Monday at additional steps it might take as the country’s death toll approached 3,000.
Democrats who control the House of Representatives were discussing boosting payments to low- and middle-income workers, likely to be among the most vulnerable as companies lay off and furlough millions of workers, as well as eliminating out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus medical treatment.
- Six members of U.S. Congress diagnosed with coronavirus
At least six members of the U.S. Congress have announced that they have contracted the novel coronavirus, and more than 30 others are or were self-quarantining in hopes of limiting the spread of the pandemic.
- Trump says more than 1 million Americans have been tested for coronavirus
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that more than 1 million Americans had been tested for coronavirus and urged people to continue to follow social distancing measures through April to prevent the virus from spreading.
“Every one of us has a role to play in winning this war. Every citizen, family, and business can make the difference in stopping the virus. This is our shared patriotic duty. Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days and this is a very vital 30 days,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
He referred to the testing number as a milestone.
Trump said the United States had begun to acquire personal protective equipment from overseas.
- Trump says guidelines to slow coronavirus spread may get tougher
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he may toughen up current guidelines aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 2000 Americans.
“The guidelines will be very much as they are, maybe even toughened up a little bit,” he told reporters in remarks at the White House.
- Trump backs off plan to reopen businesses by mid-April amid coronavirus warnings
President Donald Trump on Sunday extended his stay-at-home guidelines until the end of April, dropping a hotly criticized plan to get the economy up and running by mid-April after a top medical adviser said more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak.
The reversal by Trump, which he said would be disclosed in greater detail on Tuesday, came as the U.S. death toll topped 2,460 from the respiratory disease, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 141,000 cases, the most of any country in the world.
- World Bank urges G20 to refrain from export restrictions for pandemic supplies
The World Bank on Monday urged the Group of 20 major economies (G20) to refrain from imposing new export restrictions on critical medical supplies, food or other key products as the world battles the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement to a video conference of G20 trade ministers, a senior World Bank official said the pandemic was projected to plunge the global economy into a deep recession, disrupting supply chains and hitting critical trade nodes.
To mitigate the impact on poor countries at risk due to the limited supply of medical goods, the global lender urged G20 countries to eliminate or reduce tariffs on imports of key products needed to fight the pandemic, and lower or temporarily suspend tariffs and export taxes on food and other basic goods.
- A food crisis looms as coronavirus forces farms to stay idle and countries hoard supplies
The coronavirus outbreak could affect food security as the global pandemic disrupts labor availability and the supply chain.
“We risk a looming food crisis unless measures are taken fast to protect the most vulnerable, keep global food supply chains alive and mitigate the pandemic’s impacts across the food system,” said the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a recent post on its website.
The FAO said disruptions can be expected in April and May.
- Confidence among British companies slumped in the second week of March as the coronavirus crisis gathered pace but before the government shut much of the economy to slow its spread, according to a survey published on Tuesday.
The business confidence index from Lloyds Bank hit its joint lowest level since the depths of the global financial crisis 11 years ago in the week that started on March 9, touching -3%.
- Russian regions join coronavirus lockdown as toll rises
· Bostic: Fed programs could be broadened if they have missed important parts of economy
As U.S. officials role out trillions of dollars in new economic support, a Federal Reserve policymaker on Monday said focus will now shift to whether those programs prove adequate or need to be expanded even further.
U.S. elected officials last week approved a more than $2 trillion emergency economic program and the Fed is expected to layer on more than twice that amount in programs to keep borrowing costs cheap and ensure companies and families have access to credit needed to bridge the health crisis.
No one’s assuming it will be enough.
· U.S. dollar gains as global easing gives temporary respite
The dollar advanced on Monday, snapping a week of declines, as investors braced for prolonged uncertainty and governments tightened lockdowns and launched monetary and fiscal measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s offshore yuan fell after the Chinese central bank cut a key interbank interest rate, while Singapore’s central bank aggressively eased monetary policy as well on Monday.
In afternoon trading, the dollar index rose 0.8% to 99.09.
The euro dropped 0.9% to $1.1037 . Sterling fell 0.9% $1.2366 .
The safe-haven Japanese yen rose marginally, pushing the dollar down 0.1% to 107.88.
Analysts said investors’ end-of-month portfolio rebalancing as well as nervousness about the virus was also supporting the dollar.
The dollar gained 0.4% versus the offshore Chinese yuan to 7.1132 after the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly cut a key interbank interest rate, the seven-day reverse repurchase rate, by 20 basis points.
· China: PBoC surprise rate cut to avoid financial crisis
China's central bank (People's Bank of China) cut the 7D reverse repo from 2.4% to 2.2% when it injected CNY50 billion into the interbank market this morning. The cut is deeper than the 5bp reductions usually seen in the past and also the previous cut of 10bp.
This rate cut was unexpected. But the liquidity injection was even more of a surprise. The PBoC has not only stopped injecting any liquidity into the system since the 16 March but even withdrew CNY 33 billion of liquidity on 28 March, just one working day before this injection.
· US crude dips below $20 as lockdowns hit demand
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday, with U.S. crude briefly dropping below $20 and Brent hitting its lowest level in 18 years, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last months and demand for fuel could decline further.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, was down $2.19, or 8.78%, at $22.74, after earlier dropping to $22.58, the lowest since November 2002.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.41, or 6.5%, to $20.10. Earlier in the session, WTI fell as low as $19.92.
The price of oil is now so low that it is becoming unprofitable for many oil firms to remain active, analysts said, and higher cost producers will have no choice but to shut production, especially since storage capacities are almost full.
· U.S. crude prices at Texas slide to near $10, lowest since late 1998
The United States’ flagship crude oil grade plunged on Monday to trade at about $10 a barrel, the weakest since late 1998 as demand plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic and storage filled quickly.
The grade, priced at the heart of the Permian basin in Midland, Texas, traded at $9.50 below benchmark prices, traders said, bringing the outright price to near $10 a barrel.
Reference: Worldometers, Reuters, CNBC, Ink Think
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