Dow Jones Falls as Italy's Total Lockdown Fails to Arrest Virus Spread, Crypto Coins News
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Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures swung wildly in premarket trading before settling lower.
The coronavirus shows little sign of slowing in Italy as the government extends the national lockdown.
Hopes for a quick recovery in the US look less likely.
Volatility continues to dominate the U.S. stock market with Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures swinging wildly overnight.
Hopes for a quick containment period were dashed this morning as Italy extended its nationwide lockdown beyond the initial April 3rd date. Speaking to reporters, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte explained:
At the moment it is not sensible to say anything else … but it is obvious the measures we have taken – whether that be shutting down much of the country individual and business activities, or our actions regarding schools – can only be extended.
The country is now reporting 3, 667 new cases every day. There are fears that America is now underestimating the challenge it faces.
Italy is withing touching distance of China for the total number of confirmed coronavirus-related deaths. | Source: ANDREA PATTARO / AFP Dow futures whipsaw into negative territory
Dow futures contracts swung in and out of negative territory overnight as traders tried to make sense of the threat ahead. If there’s any consolation, this is first time in five days that futures did not trigger the circuit breakers.
Coronavirus spreads despite strict lockdown Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is extending the lockdown measures beyond the original April 3rd deadline. | Source: Shutterstock.com Italian doctors were hoping the spread would level off and begin declining after a week of lockdown. But that hasn’t happened. Dr. Giorgio Palù said he couldn’t predict when the curve will bend.
Yesterday we expected to have a change after almost 25 days of this new measure … but it’s still rising. So I don’t think we can make a prediction today.
Some
million Italians are on lockdown after the novel coronavirus took hold in the northern regions of the country. There are reports that numbers in the north are beginning to level off. But the daily new cases continue to rise .
The slow recovery in Italy sends a warning sign to the US which is expected to follow Italy to social distancing measures. Bill Gates struck an optimistic tone, saying the U.S. could ‘open back up’ in 6 – (weeks )
If a country does a good job with testing and ‘shut down’ then within 6 – 20 weeks they should see very few cases and be able to open back up… With the right actions including the testing and social distancing (which I call ‘shut down’) within 2-3 months the rich countries should have avoided high levels of infection.
But the latest numbers out of Italy don’t look good. Things in China are more optimistic. The country reported zero new domestic cases for the first time this morning. Only new cases were confirmed , all of them originated from overseas.
Dow Jones will remain nervous until US cases level off
The U.S. stock market will likely remain volatile until the outbreak peaks and begins to trend downwards. Despite trillions of dollars of stimulus on the way , traders are at a loss trying to quantify the economic impact of this event.
Donald Trump ramped up the rhetoric last night, referring to himself as a ‘wartime president’ and deploying a military hospital to the New York region.
I view it as – in a sense – of wartime president … “I mean, that’s what we’re fighting. I mean, it’s a very tough situation here.
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