COVID-19 triggers mass layoffs, nationwide hiring freeze. The numbers: Job openings in the U.S. fell slightly to 6.9 million in February just a month before the coronavirus upended the economy and all but certainly ended the longest expansion in American history. Available jobs are expected to sustain a record decline in March, when large parts of the U.S. economy began to shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19.
By Julia-Ambra Verlaine and Tristan Wyatt. The Federal Reserve has calmed crucial parts of the markets, but other portions of the financial system remain stressed. The central bank announced aggressive measures over the past month, pledging to buy assets from Treasurys to corporate-bond funds to municipal debt.
Back in December, Art Cashin, the longtime NYSE trader, predicted that the stock market would be higher in 2020 despite some volatile stretches in January, March and July. Looks like he got that second part mostly right, anyway. To be fair, nobody could have predicted the coronavirus pandemic and the impact it's had on the economy and investors.
Key parts of the U.S. debt markets are functioning again, a sign the Federal Reserve's extraordinary steps are easing a credit-market crunch. Investors say the Fed has reduced disruptions in the $17 trillion U.S. Treasurys market that had sent shock waves through the financial system.
Terrafina, a leading Mexican industrial real estate investment trust, externally advised by PGIM Real Estate and dedicated to the acquisition, development, lease and management of industrial real estate properties in Mexico, announced today the drawdown of US$150 million of its revolving credit line maturing in January 2023, with an interest rate of Libor + 245 basis points and without prepayme...
'We need to see the other shoe drop' before getting back into stocks: Minerd. Scott Minerd is looking for opportunities to dip his toes into the coronavirus-stricken stock market. However, you may not find him wading into equities anytime soon if the outlook for the economy is as grim as he is forecasting.
Auction for 3- year notes sees tepid appetite. Treasury yields rose sharply Monday as a global rally in risk assets drew demand away from government paper on hopes that the spread of the COVID-19 disease was beginning to slow in the U.S. and Europe. Investors will see a holiday-shortened week in observance of the Good Friday holiday.
The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department are planning to launch a new program to buy loans that financial firms make through the government's emergency small-business lending program, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Mass layoffs pushing jobless rate above 10%-- and it's still rising. The soaring U.S. unemployment rate might not match the peak of 25% seen during the Great Depression of the 1930 s, but it could come uncomfortably close in the next few months. More than 10 million people applied for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks of March after being thrown out of work by the business shutdowns due the coronavirus pandemic.
- The economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic hit home for Americans last month, as consumers braced for job losses, anticipated spending cuts and grew more pessimistic about their ability to cover their bills, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.
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