(Bloomberg) -- U.S. and Japanese equity futures retreated and the dollar climbed against major peers after a coronavirus outbreak in China added to concerns of a resurgence in the pandemic.S&P 500 futures opened about 1% lower. Beijing closed the city’s largest fruit and vegetable supply center and locked down nearby housing districts after dozens of people associated with the wholesale market tested positive for the coronavirus. That’s after second-wave concerns intensified in some U.S. locations last week. Crude oil retreated.The prospect of another wave of Covid-19 just as economies continue to reopen is keeping traders on edge and pushed global equities and Treasury yields lower last week. In the U.S., there are rising infections in 22 states. France, meantime, moved to open restaurants to indoor diners as soon as Monday.These are some key events coming up:Policy decisions from the Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are...
(Bloomberg) -- New York’s new deaths fell for a second day while Florida’s cases outpaced the weekly average for a fifth straight day. A former top U.S. health official said new outbreaks are now occurring.Ghana confirmed the nation’s health minister has the virus. Paris restaurants can start serving indoor diners on Monday as France speeds up reopening.Russia is emerging “confidently” from crisis, Vladimir Putin said, while political fights are hindering Donald Trump. An infectious disease researcher said the virus won’t slow until 60% of the U.S. is infected, up from 5% now. Key Developments:Virus Tracker: Cases pass 7.8 million; deaths exceed 431,000College towns fear virus will leave them as U.S. ghost townsMillions of jobs may be permanently lost in reallocation shockIndonesia tells Jakarta firms to implement new work hoursBeijing locks down part of city after outbreak at marketNew York’s Chinatown is starting over, and it’s painfulThousands flock to Miami Beach even...
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A wild week for U.S. stock market indexes was accompanied by some eye-popping moves in individual listings, several of which were apparently driven by retail investors and lacked easy explanations other than exuberance. Some will be inclined to ignore this behavior, noting that, if not warranted, its consequences will be isolated and containable. While not ignoring it, regulators will end up taking a lassiez-faire attitude toward it primarily because their power and tools only go so far. Others, like me, will spend time thinking not only about the potential consequences, be it market functioning or distributional factors, but also the causes and their wider implications.By now, and as illustrated by the Bloomberg article cited above, there is quite a list of individual stocks to choose from to indicate investor exuberance that could easily spill over into reckless risk-taking and speculation. My top pick is Hertz, which is going through...
