Markets plunge again on virus fears despite slashed rates

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Due to the coronavirus and global market situation, we won’t publish new opinions or top picks in the next few days. Hopefully, stock opinions we will be back after March 30th. In the meantime, we will keep you updated with daily market updates.

Another Black Monday

It was another Black Monday. Investors knew the session would be a bloodbath when the U.S. Fed’s Jerome Powell on Sunday slashed interest rates to nearly 0% and would buy US$700 in treasury and mortgage bonds. Immediately, Dow futures plunged, automatically paused at -5% as the futures’ “circuit breaker” kicked in. Second’s after Monday’s opening bell, Wall Street’s own circuit breakers halted trading as the market sank.

By the closing bell, the Dow had suffered its worst one-day loss, down 12.93%, while the Nasdaq and S&P fell slightly below that. Clearly, Trump was the only one who was “happy” with the Fed’s latest measures, intended to ease investors’ concerns. Meanwhile, WTI fell below $29, and WCS slipped below $15 as the Saudi-Russian oil war rages on. There was heavy selling across the board. Travel and airlines continued to get crushed, with Boeing plummeting almost 24%. It’s a sign of the times when a tech giant like Amazon has a good day when it sheds only 5.37%.

The TSX suffered a relatively better Monday, falling 9.89%. Every sector except materials and consumer staples suffered double-digit percentage losses with hardly any names spared. Staples lost only 6.73%. Anything to do with
gold shone, as investors flocked to safety. Alamos Gold soared nearly 21% while Sandstorm Gold spiked 17.64%. It was a day full of announcements of new government measures to restrict human activity with news pouring in constantly.

✈ Boeing -24%
📦 Amazon.com +5.37%
🥇 Alamos Gold Inc +21%
🥇 Sandstorm Gold Ltd. +17.64%