Catch up on the Forex market and global news with our recap for March 26, 2020 here.
– The global coronavirus pandemic continues to increase exponentially from its epicenter in Europe and the U.S.A, with more and more countries imposing severe restrictions which are causing very significant economic damage. A global recession appears to be inevitable, with Goldman Sachs forecasting a 23% drop in U.S. GDP. If correct, this will be the worst fall since the 1930s.
– The rate of increase in fatalities and new confirmed cases continues to grow in the epicenter of Western Europe with the exception of Italy, which has continued to see a slowdown in the rate of new confirmed cases over the last 4 days, providing hope that the lockdown is beginning to show results.
– Confirmed cases in the U.S.A. now put it 3rd behind only China and Italy, with over 30,000 cases now in New York City alone.
– World stock markets, especially in the U.S.A., rose over the last 2 days on confirmation of the passage of a $2 trillion rescue package by the U.S. Congress. However, stock markets have begun to fall again in recent hours and look like falling further in line with the bearish trend.
– WTI Crude Oil is looking very weak and seems set to fall further and test its recent low prices.
– The Euro and Japanese Yen have the most short-term strength today of all currencies, while the Canadian Dollar is the weakest currency. We might be seeing the start of a trend change, or just a short-term pull-back in the dominant long-term trends.
– The Australian Dollar, the British Pound, WTI Crude Oil and Silver all hit multi-year lows last week.
– Markets are affected by very high volatility, and plummeting consumer demand. This provides opportunities for traders, but close monitoring of trades on short time frames is very advisable due to the strength and speed of price movements.
– The key factor in markets today will likely be how the U.S. stock market moves, a strong fall to new lows after the stimulus news could be very damaging to confidence, especially if U.S. Unemployment Claims data is even worse than the already terrible number expected of new claims.