Tools & Resources

It's far too early to declare anything about the coronavirus epidemic but the market reaction has been instructive – fiscal and central bank policy is overwhelming fundamentals. The pound was the top performer Thursday while the kiwi lagged. Stocks retreated slightly lower after the Fed announcd it was reducing the daily operations of its repo agreements, but will hold the monthly amount of t-bill purchases unchanged at $60 bn per month. Silver and CAD are at the top of the day's performers. US retail sales are due up next.

4,823 additional coronavirus cases were reported in Hubei, suggesting that the 15,000 reported a day earlier was an aberration due to the new methodology in counting infections.  Will be crucial to see if markets pullback late on Friday and Sunday  night as they did in the  last 3 weeks.