03-08-2020, 07:01 PM
(03-08-2020, 06:16 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 08-Mar-2020 World View: Markets plunging
Here are some current market prices, courtesy of Bloomberg TV:
dow futures down 985 3.82%
s&p futures down 124 4.18%
ten year treasury 0.76%
Australia asx down 310 4.86%
Oil plunging most since gulf war in 1991
Nymex crude 32.84 down 8.44 20.45%
Brent crude 26.32 down 8.95 19.77%
These figures may be a little out of date, as they seem
to keep falling as I'm typing them.
There's more to this meltdown than a respiratory virus. To be sure, this virus is not likely to kill as many people as did HIV/AIDS.
Severe economic inequality because wages have been stagnant despite innovation and increased productivity ensures that there are few buyers for big-ticket goods.
Price-to-earnings ratios are preposterously high and will soon face a correction.
The inverted yield curve will ensure a credit crunch that
(1) makes borrowing for high-ticket goods more difficult and costly
(2) businesses on life support that depend on further infusions of credit will die when the plug is pulled
(3) over-leveraged firms will be in deep trouble as credit costs will eat into operational revenue
(4) accounting scandals tend to be exposed as market meltdowns happen.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
