Posted on 03/08/2020 8:12:46 PM PDT by david1292
Sharp declines in U.S. stock index futures triggered trading curbs meant to slow panicked markets as the price of oil fell by more than 30 percent and bond yields crashed amid heightened worries over the coronavirus.
E-mini futures on the S&P 500 dropped by 5 percent in overnight trading Sunday, triggering automatic trading curbs that kick-in when the price falls below 5 percent of the closing price of the referenced index Friday. As a result, the futures contract cannot trade at a lower price until the cash market opens at 9:30 a.m., although trades may still be made at higher prices.
The last time futures trading hit the overnight limit was election night of 2016, when markets initially sold off following the news that Donald Trump had won the election. That selling pressure quickly subsided and the major indexes closed up by around 1 percent or so the following day.
The E-mini is an electronically traded futures contract based on the underlying S&P 500 index. The contracts are around one-fifth the size of the standard S&P futures contracts, earning them the monicker “mini.” They are considered highly liquid and are widely traded but they have, in a few past episodes, been prone to so-called “flash crashes.”
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite remain above the level that would trigger curbs in those contracts.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The last time futures trading hit the overnight limit was election night of 2016, when markets initially sold off following the news that Donald Trump had won the election. That selling pressure quickly subsided and the major indexes closed up by around 1 percent or so the following day.
I was surprised that a week or two ago that the Markets were blind to the potential earnings drops associated with the RedCommie virus commerce effects.
Nasdaq 100 futures stopped falling when the contract reached 8,093.25, while the Dow contracts cannot trade below 24,534
Already there...Japanese down 6%.
Could be a 2000 pt drop.
Saudi Arabia has declared war. They said they were opening the spigots even wider. Gas will be a buck fifty and some companies will go bk if that happens.
I was sounding the alarm mid-January. Schwab ignored me. No longer a client.
the deep state / uniparty have played one of their cards with the oil market crash
will Trump and Kudkow be ready for a response tomorrow?
LOL. Which company is that?
Well, the 'rats [except possibly Nanny Bloomie] will be happy.
stand by to live in interesting times
Maybe Occidental Petroleum.
And some of the exploration companies in the oil shale areas.
...dogs and cats living together...
A couple of $billion/month is Chinese imports is causing $Trillions in lost market cap. Madness.
Umm, dropping prices at the pump will enhance Trump’s reelection chances.
Look, I am all for an import tariff on crude oil. Do it now. I am game.
Send me $49.99 for my special secret book on how to go broke on timing the market with additional advice on oil companies. I just hope it ain't OXY (which is paying a 10% dividend now) and I own.
An infectious disease doctor has a message about the real epidemic out there
By Andrea Widburg
You know that someone has struck a nerve when his Facebook post about coronavirus has well over 632,000 shares. That’s the case with a post that Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious diseases specialist, wrote about coronavirus. His is the modern version of Franklin Roosevelt’s famous warning to Americans on the occasion of his First Inaugural Address, that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Sharkaway works for the University Health Network, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. It is also the largest health research organization in North America. An infectious disease specialist at this organization must be presumed to have a better knowledge about coronavirus than talking heads on the news or the writers at the New York Times and Washington Post.
Whatever you’ve been thinking about coronavirus, this post will give you some rare clarity on the issue:
I’m a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria...there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they “ probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know...” and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.
I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games...that could be kyboshed too. Can you even
imagine?
I’m scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.
But mostly, I’m scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.
Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and “fight for yourself above all else” attitude could prove disastrous.
I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let’s meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.
Yeah, (sad faced). I sold APA near the top but held on to OXY.
The whole "risk" analysis bidness has been causing me fundamental philosophical concern for a while. I'm still struggling to get my mind around it.
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