Covid-19: Central Banks Fail to Bring Comfort

16 March 2020 Global central banks have announced additional emergency stimulus measures. In particular, the US Federal Reserve reduced its policy rate by 100 basis point, which now stands near zero. In addition, the Fed will resume aggressively its quantitative easing program. During the Global Financial Crisis global markets were reassured by such assertive policy [...]

Covid-19: Korea – A Bit of Good News?

15 March 2020 The news on the Coronavirus continues to be alarming. However, perhaps Korea's experience is beginning to offer a glimmer of hope. Worldometer provides data indicating that the new case count has slowed sharply during the past two weeks (Chart above). To be sure, the number of infected people has not peaked, nor [...]

Covid-19: Temporary Maybe, But Painful Shock

13 March 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic appears to be moving into a new phase. While the response differs between countries, most governments are transitioning from the contaiment phase towards focusing efforts on delaying the spread of the disease. This strategy hopes to lower the peak number of infections. The plan seeks to buy time; thereby, [...]

Covid-19: US Lags on Testing

12 March 2020 The US imposed a travel ban with Europe. The UK is transitioning from the from the containment to delay phase of dealing with the spread of the Coronavirus. However, major differences exist in the level of testing between countries. And, there's a strong correlation between testing and discovery of infected cases. If [...]