Coronavirus does bring out the morbid ghoulish side of the financial markets, with equities enjoying a bright start as the rate of deaths in Spain, Italy and New York fell. Hundreds of people are passing away each day from the pandemic, but less so than previous days, giving markets hope that that the lockdown measures are finally starting to prove effective. Like the rest of the world, financial markets are searching for any slivers of hope, and although in this case, I hope they are right, still amateur scientists have not had a great track record since January.
The ghoulishness swings both ways, of course. The fell this morning as the UK Prime Minister was having been unable to shake of COVID-19 from isolation at home.
Oil too has endured a torrid early morning session, as quarrels amongst the OPEC+ members sees a virtual meeting postponed until Thursday. Both Saudi Arabia and Russia are finger-pointing over who is to blame for the collapse in oil prices. At the same time,…