So much speculation back and forth on the virus. Who knows?
My guess is that the media saw a virus outbreak and tried to “talk down the economy”. Real panic occurred in some places with unfortunate impacts to things like tourism in Italy. An unintended consequence. But the media had hoped that supply chains would be disrupted and cause a recession in the US.
But the virus may be fizzling and the US economy remains strong. Unemployment rates are stellar and interest rates have dropped.
OK, time for an Oil War between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Maybe that will cause a US recession. Maybe that will get Trump. And while the market reels from the big drop in oil prices, the media can nonsensically double-dip and say “If Trump hadn’t botched the virus, this wouldn’t be happening.”
I have no idea why an oil war between SA and Russia is bad, other than maybe it becomes military.
Oil crashing, to me, is awesome. Any time the base feed stock of every single economic process falls, that’s going to be great for profits.