U.S. markets sharply turn after three straight days of gains

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

U.S. markets plunged deep in the red Friday morning, interrupting a stellar three-day run and offering a stinging reminder that the government’s $2.2 trillion rescue package won’t blunt investor anxiety just yet. Stocks soared this week as the landmark stimulus package came into sharper view. The Senate passed the sprawling bill late Wednesday. The House is now aiming to expedite its own vote on Friday, even while one GOP lawmaker could cause a delay.

But as lawmakers scramble to get the legislation to President Trump, the pandemic’s toll continues to multiply. The United States now has the most confirmed cases in the world and has surpassed 1,000 deaths. A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, according to the Labor Department, and economists say more than 40 million Americans could lose their jobs by mid-April.

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 800 points, or 3.8 percent, at Friday’s open. The Standard & Poor’s and Nasdaq also posted sharp losses of 3.2 and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Analysts caution that stocks are far from recovery and that investors should prepare for significant drops even lower than markets have recently seen. “Don’t be too quick to uncork the champagne,” said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research in a note Friday morning. “Friday’s futures imply that investors are looking to take some profits ahead of a traditional ‘retest’ of the recent lows."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/27/stock-market-economy-dow-coronavirus/

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No duh!

And no, stock market gains are not going to "cure" coronavirus as some idiotic business analysts were claiming yesterday.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Think of the weeks ahead when

deaths pass 5,000, 10,000 or many multiples of that. Because Spanish flu, 1918, killed 275,000 Americans. U.S. population is 4 times larger now. And this virus is more deadly. I saw a couple of counts yesterday that listed numbers of hospital personnel infected and they didn't say it, but those were running at 10% or more.

I do think eventually markets will settle down to a lower level of trading, or be closed for a period of time, not because of the virus but because things are not quantifiable - the metrics they use to value companies. Few people realize that in the 1970s crash, 1973-75, markets were closed for several months on Wednesdays to allow for a catchup on paperwork, everything involving a paper trail at that time. We could see such again.

[Canoe52]

2. Good news/bad news. The bad news is you are going to die, but the good news is

your 401k went up! So comforting...

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Cheer up!

Morphine! With Grey Poupon!

[Maeve]

4. Rallies in an early bear market are not uncommon, but

they seldom last--reality beats out wishful thinking. The markets won the news cycle for a few days, but the virus isn't paying any attention to that. It's not ending by Easter.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Exactly!

[paleotn]

6. Short term moves are based on hype....

long term trends are based on data. I guess some finally realized, stimulus package or no stimulus package, Cv-19 impacts are going to savage earnings on a scale far, far worse than the great recession. Like nothing we've seen in generations.

[not_the_one]

7. You can still pump and dump on a much smaller margin....

The people in the know, with the computer programs assisting them, can still buy low, and as soon as the market rises a sufficient amount, sell at a higher price. It may not be the high as in the highest ever, but if enough shares are being traded, it can still make a bundle for the share owner.

THOSE people know exactly what they are doing. In the end, they never lose. One person's loss is another person's chance to bottom feed.