It could hardly be worse:
+ Trump blames the Democrats for Covid-19. He seems more worried about boosting the stockmarket than containing the virus.
+ Pence is now in charge. All Fed government Covid-19 statements must now pass through him. Pence as master censor. He has an abysmal public health record. He once said smoking didn’t cause cancer.
+ Goldman Sachs figures S&P 500 will have no earnings this year. David Kostin, the bank’s chief U.S. equity strategist, warns U.S. companies will see no earnings growth this year. “Our reduced profit forecasts reflect the severe decline in Chinese economic activity in Q1, lower end-demand for US exporters, disruption to the supply chain for many US firms, a slowdown in US economic activity, and elevated business uncertainty.”
+ Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal writes “As for unemployment, if the virus spreads people will begin to self-distance. If they shop less, if they stay home more and eat out less, and begin to cancel personal gatherings-if big professional events and annual meetings are also canceled-it will carry a whole world of bad implications.”
+ California has its first victim who didn’t travel and didn’t have any contact with anyone — her infection came from an “unknown origin.” California is monitoring 8500 people for the disease.
There are stats on bad markets. There are “bear” markets and there are “market corrections.” We have a “correction,” so far.
You can read more here.
Cramer and Goldman Sachs have lists of companies to buy which have no international exposure. I’m not impressed. Still, here’s Cramer’s list:
ADOBE
ETSY
MODERNA
RingCentral
TelaDoc
Square
The Trade Desk
Nvidia
Zoom Video
Shopify
Here’s Goldman Sachs list:
Altria
Charter Communcations
DISH
Dollar General
Intuit
Jack Henry
Norfolk Southern
O’Reilly Automotive
Ross Stores
Verizon
The season for weird happenings
+ My dear friend Sara’s Apple laptop got infected by ransomware. The hacker wants money. She says her stuff is backed up. I hope so. She needs to get her machine laptop wiped and put back to its original form– as it came out of the factory. The virus is still on her machine, despite what the hacker says.
+ Bed bugs have attacked another friend. She is in major pain.b The lesson here is not to check luggage. If you do, spray it when you get home. We use 99% isopropyl alcohol.
God bless ingenuity
I found this pancake maker in the Alaska Airlines lounge in Portland. It actually worked and the pancakes tasted good. Just push a button. Wait one minute. Amazing.
The pleasures of travel
Leaving Portland, Oregon on Wednesday on Alaska Airlines, here are two views of Mt Hood from my window seat. Note the Columbia River.
I’ve tried to buy the dips in recent days. That hasn’t worked.
Two minutes ago the New York Times posted this headline:
Stock Market Continues to Plummet in Worst Week Since 2008:
Paul Krugman wrote a piece today:
When a Pandemic Meets a Personality Cult
The Trump team confirms all of our worst fears.
You can read his piece here.
I’ve tried to buy the dips in recent days. That hasn’t worked.
I’m going to play tennis. That will work better. — Harry Newton
So will Paul Krugman suck it up and say “I was wrong” if no crisis emerges here in the US? Or will he just find another rant?
I’ll tell you this much – the Chinese response is not going to make Taiwan eager to re-unite.
Buy the way, what happened to the plunge protection team that held up the market when it was taking it in the shorts (pun intended) when Obama was in office?
You said: <>
So now, the Trump claims what? The Democrats created the virus? What’s the source for this?
It’s no secret that the desperate Democrats hope the coronavirus will undermine Trump, and they are willing to trash the economy if it will make that happen. But come on Harry, you are better than this.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-celebrity-calls-for-americans-to-shut-down-economy-to-oust-trump?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mattwalsh
Hey Scooter, don’t like to get too political but the source of Harry’s point is his press conference. His quarrel with Nancy P. in public about funding the efforts to fend off the spread is something. Appointment of VP Pence, who his handling of past HIV public health crisis in Indiana came into light again, to lead to efforts is also showing how lightly he is taking the situation. Giving a link to a not very well known celebrity’s (C-list as they noted) opinion is hardly a thing. If economy goes down, we all lose, period. Disclosure: did not vote for Trump, and will not.
Hey Omer,
I live in Indiana and the hype about Pence and the HIV is something that was hyped as a story, but has no substance. As to Trump not taking this seriously, I’m curious as to just what you think Trump should have done different?
Hey Scooter, so you are saying that he did not resist, despite medical recommendation, distributing -to some account for 2 months- needles to circumvent HIV spread? So those reported high number of cases (as percentage of population) of infections in Indiana were bogus? As for what Trump should have done differently: first of all, Trump has a credibility problem -and this has nothing to do with coronavirus, it has been there and looks like will be there-. So whatever he says, not many people believe him. I think state department brought US citizens from Hubei province in swift manner -in CA and TX- which was nice for containment early days of the announcement of virus. BTW none of the local hospital staff is trained for handling of patients and tests were sent to CDC centers which took days to get results -this based on Riverside CA reports only an hour away from me-. CDC tests said to be not reliable either. While all these lack of urgency of taking charge for sometime, administration took action to release money when stock market tanked this week. I am hoping that there is not an outbreak on coronavirus, otherwise we all will be in some health crisis.
Not trying to get too political today but I think we are in uncharted waters because of the trust issue with Trump. Over the last 3 years he has bashed the institutions of the media, Intelligence community, etc. and anyone who he disagrees with. Now yesterday he says this below–Do I trust what he says or does-Hell No!
“It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” Trump said at the White House Thursday as the virus marched across Asia and Europe after US officials said the US should brace for severe disruption to everyday life.
The President also warned that things could “get worse before it gets better,” but he added it could “maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”
I do believe when warm weather arrives it’ll disappear.
I think the stock market could go to zero. I called my broker and he disagrees, but said “At this point I guess that’s possible.”