Anecdotal reports of clinical drug trials being disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak have caused concern for the life sciences sector at large, though it appears vaccine trials for COVID-19 won’t be affected, according to Moody’s....
(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is trying to call time on a fire sale of Treasuries by foreign governments and central banks.Foreign official holders of Treasuries dumped more than $100 billion in the three weeks to March 25, on course for the biggest monthly drop on record, according to weekly Fed custody data that captures much of the pandemic-fueled turmoil. They joined others seeking to unload government debt globally to raise cash amid the volatility, according to traders and market makers familiar with the transactions. Countries reliant on oil exports and smaller Asian economies have been selling U.S. debt, and central banks have been primarily offloading older, less-liquid Treasuries, these people said.The Fed on Tuesday rolled out its latest effort to restore proper functioning in markets, on top of moves to ramp up debt purchases and backstop several market sectors. It introduced a temporary repurchase agreement facility that will let other...
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The optimism that permeated equity markets last week when U.S. stocks posted their biggest gains since the 1930s has once again given way to a feeling of despair, with the S&P 500 Index falling 6% over the course of two days. Yes, moves by fiscal and monetary authorities have shored up the all-important “plumbing” of the financial markets, but that is looking more and more like an act of triage than a catalyst to recovery. No one at this point in the pandemic crisis can confidently say how deep and long-lasting the coming recession will be, and that’s keeping markets stuck in their own form of purgatory. The conundrum facing investors was underscored by a pair of developments out of JPMorgan Chase & Co. this week. At the same time the biggest U.S. bank’s research department was pronouncing that most risk assets — a universe that typically includes stocks — have seen their...
