Global stock markets tumbled as fears over the widening spread of Covid-19 were compounded by the free fall in crude oil prices. Investors are struggling to put a price tag on the economic — and corporate earnings — impact from the viral outbreak. As the selloff in stocks intensified, investors fled to haven assets, sending yields for the benchmark 10-year Treasury to as low as 0.64%.
SINGAPORE (Mar 13): Now we have it, the answer to the oft-asked question, “When will the longest-ever bull market in US history end?”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,465 points on March 11, taking total cumulative losses to over 20% from its all-time record high — on Feb 12 — and meeting the definition of a bear market. The longevity of this bull market was driven by unorthodox and ultra loose monetary policies, which flooded the world with liquidity and pushed up asset prices, including stocks. As it turns out, the cause of the bull market’s end was a transient shock in the form of the Covid-19 outbreak, against which monetary policy is largely ineffective.
