Market's fortunes rest on Covid-19 infection rate

Published Sun, Mar 15, 2020 · 09:50 PM

US stocks crashed last week, ending an 11-year bull run as the coronavirus pandemic went worldwide and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 per cent on a single session - the steepest drop since Black Monday, 1987.

"It seems like it's been a decade," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, at the end of the week. "My nerves are so bad . . . I would say because of the velocity and how fierce the selloffs have been and the down days and even the bounces, it's unique."

This week, the volatility and the velocity are bound to continue, and the crash could resume if the Federal Reserve disappoints investors with its policy decision mid-week.

For the first time since the financial crisis, market confidence in the central bank's role as saviour is shaken. Fed chairman Jerome Powell has yet to stabilise the short-term markets that circulate the life blood of credit to the financial system, despite an emergency rate cut and a US$1.5 tril…