Virus News:( The Morning Dispatch)
The White House and CDC are expected to announce new guidance for Americans, urging them to wear cloth masks in an effort to prevent coronavirus spread.
After 3 million masks ordered by Massachusetts were confiscated in the Port of New York, the state got creative, using the New England Patriots’ private plane to transport masks directly from China.
As of Thursday night, there are now 245,213 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States (a 13.3 percent increase from yesterday) and 5,983 deaths (a 16.9 percent increase from yesterday), according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, leading to a mortality rate among confirmed cases of 2.4 percent (the true mortality rate is difficult to calculate due to incomplete testing regimens). Of 1,267,658 coronavirus tests conducted in the United States, 18.9 percent have come back positive, per the COVID Tracking Project, a separate dataset with slightly different topline numbers
One in 10 coronavirus deaths in the United States have occurred in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Young people in the South are dying from the virus at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country. This piece from The Atlantic explores why that’s happening, and how the southern U.S. is becoming the new hotspot for COVID-19.
GERMANY IS SEEING FIRST SIGNS OF VIRUS SPREAD SLOWING: (Bloomberg)
UK Prime Minister Johnson still battling a high fever due to Covid-19
Economy:
Non-farm Payrolls expected -100K if true will be the first negative NFP in a decade. Today’s release unlikely to give a complete picture of job losses experienced this month, Remember the survey period is middle of the Month so the last two weeks of 10 Million Jobless claims will not be fully seen in today’s numbers. The forecast range is -4 million to +100K. Unemployment rate expected to move higher to 3.8 from 3.5.s and Average hourly earnings may jump but this is do to the possibility of Low wage earners dropping out of equation(BBG) “March may be bad but April will be Brutal” (BBG)
I believe the Services ISM at 9:00 may have a bigger impact on markets then NFP, Services have been and will continue to be hit hard. Dont dismiss the 9:00 Release
| Non-farm payrolls | |||
| 100 | Bullish Dollar | ||
| exp | -100 | ||
| -400 | Bearish Dollar | ||
| Unemployment rate | |||
| 4.1 | Bearish Dollar | ||
| exp | 3.8 | ||
| 3.5 | Bullish Dollar |
Markets:
Oil maintains yesterday’s Bid as OPEC, OPEC + and Texas Regulator to hold Video Conference on Monday to Discuss oil Output, Number being tossed around is a 6 Mln barrel a day cut in production possibly shared by all members. Watch for tape bombs as all Leaders involved in this “dance” are a bit slippery.
Yesterdays Bond trade had narrowest range in roughly one month, Markets have exhaled and the once volatility all day everyday trade has now come to an end for now.
Gold higher again today by a touch copper little changed Stocks mixed and Dollar everyone’s enemy +.3%
Hogs appear to be limit down offer for third day in a row
