Dow Dumps 2,000 Points From Highs & ‘Jawboning’ Is Failing To Halt The Panic

Tuesday, February 25, 2020
By Paul Martin

by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Tue, 02/25/2020

Update (1350ET): Like a champion boxer who is just past his prime, Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow took to CNBC early Tuesday afternoon to try and jawbone the markets higher as US stocks headed for their fourth day in a row.

Kudlow stressed that the US has been “ahead of the curve” when it comes to “protecting citizens” (by canceling flights, barring foreigners etc.) – even as the CDC warns that the US is dangerously unprepared for “community outbreaks” that it believes will inevitably arrive. People need to stay “calm”, Kudlow said, adding that we won’t really know how bad this will be for the US until a few weeks have passed.

Kudlow stressed the human toll of the outbreak, calling it “an incredible human tragedy.” But as far as the economy is concerned, “I don’t think we’re looking at an economic disaster at all,” he added.

To support his claim, Kudlow cited the recent spate of Fed data, claiming there has been “no evidence” of supply disruptions.

Granted, there have been bright spots, but we can’t help but wonder: Is Kudlow looking at the same data we are?

And how does one explain gold and the 30-year?

As far as rate cuts are concerned, Kudlow says “I’m not hearing that.”

“I’m not hearing the Fed is going to make any panic moves.”</em>

We can almost hear the bulls shouting ‘Aw, C’mon Larry!’ at their TV screens.

Before launching into a tangent about the “human toll”, the G-7 and the US’s growth playbook, Kudlow left us with a solid departing thought: whatever happens next with the virus, “it’s not gonna last forever,” Kudlow said.

And if you’re investing for the long term, it simply doesn’t make sense to lose your nerve in a selloff, right?

Right?

* * *

As we detailed earlier, US equity markets are extending their losses and strategists are starting to wake up to the ugly reality that The Fed can’t print vaccines… no matter how much they promise easing, it won’t fix the consumption slump or supply chain collapse.

As CNBC reports, the influx of foreign nationals to the United States from areas impacted by the coronavirus means a large American outbreak is “increasingly likely,” a scenario that could “rattle” markets in tandem, according to investment bank Jefferies.

Equity strategist Simon Powell wrote in a note to clients that although the incidence of new coronavirus cases in China appears to be slowing, recent breakouts in Italy, Iran and South Korea hint that the disease is capable of spreading to and within many locations.

“We increasingly find it hard to believe that USA cases are as low as reported, and believe that given the flow of Chinese, Korean and Iranian nationals into North America, a large USA community-based outbreak is increasingly likely,” Powell wrote on Tuesday.

“Imagine trying to quarantine a large city in the USA for a month, similar to how the Chinese have shut down Wuhan, or the way the Italians are trying to ring-fence 10 towns near Milan,” he added.

“Our working hypothesis is that it wouldn’t work, and could cause panic on a scale that would spook markets.”

The Rest…HERE

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