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Hole onto your hats, gonna get wild.

Wuhan Virus -
See FR threads on the virus for other issues. Below are the news items that grab my attention. We are entering uncharted waters as far as this pandemic goes. . . . . .

WHO announced global pandemic, causing markets to crash. President Trump announced financial support efforts and ban of travel from Europe (VP Pense notes the epicenter of the pandemic has shifted there). Overnight, the number of new cases increased by about 28%. Based on a daily reported cumulative number of new cases since the 100th case, the US has been following a 33% daily increase line. Analysts still noting that the US is about 13 - 16 days behind Italy’s trend line.

Health policy in many areas has shifted to mitigation from containment. Goal is to try to isolate the 60+ yr old group who are at highest risk of death from infection. Nursing facilities/rest homes are closing off visitations and interactions with the outside. BTW, I’ve gone to wearing gloves and mask on daily commute (light rail) as a precaution since I fall into the high risk category.

Economic issues dominate. Markets have fallen over 20% and some believe could lose as much as 30% in the days to come. Besides the markets, travel industry is being hammered. Between travel restrictions and fewer fliers, the number of flights have dropped by about 20%. Sports got hammered yesterday, with cancellation of the NBA season and the College March madness attendees restricted to family and very few other attendees. St Patrick’s day celebrations being cancelled all over (crying in the green beer). Panic buying now an epidemic of its own across the country, even in states with no reported infections. Businesses and governments looking to go to skeletal staffing and have employees telework as much as possible.

Black Swan -
Recommend keeping an eye on Deutsche Bank Stock. It is approaching 6.40 and some analysts indicate that there is no floor for it. This is the most vulnerable bank in Europe with trillions in bad debt. With the added economic pressures from the corono virus I have concerns that this bank could melt down, triggering a global melt down of the banking system.

US /Syria -
Wrap up of yesterday’s actions. On Wednesday (local) approximately 18 rockets hit Camp Taj, located 9 miles north of Baghdad. The source was a modified truck that had launching tubes and was abandoned. This has been the common practice in the past few attacks. Two Americans and one Brit were killed, 12 injured. The culprits are considered to be the Iranian backed PMU. Within hours, US aircraft struck Popular Mobilization camps in the al-Hassian area and the Imam Ali military base (Iranian built base). Reports of 25 killed in the air strike.

There are two aircraft carrier groups in the Middle east AO, USS Truman and the USS Eisenhower. These task forces have been in the area for several days and are not there in response to the recent attack on Camp Taj, but can add fire power if necessary.

Afghanistan -
Excellent background on the Taliban/Afghanistan scenario here:
https://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20200312.aspx

CW2 -
SPLC and CAIR are working to pressure donor-advised funds (DAFs) to black list conservative and Christian organizations to “fight” hate and racism. They are tying this into the response they’ve gotten from big tech and some financial institutions to block/ban funding to these groups. In today’s realm of virtue signaling, these pressure tactics are becoming increasingly successful.