Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 2.28.20 (plus The Market's Response To Crisis)

I took some amusement this weekend from the usual summation, posted below, as you may note that Item #1 under "Positives" is exactly the same as Item 1 under "Negatives."  "Worst week since 2008 as markets shed > 10%" which is what we've all been reading since Friday.  Then there's "Orderly 10% repricing of markets has yet to turn into full-blown panic" listed under Positives, which I'm sure is the perspective our brokers would prefer us to have.  Both are completely factual statements, both valid.  One is just glass half-empty, the other glass half-full.  The other positives sort of pale by comparison as do the other negatives except for the one about Amateur Hour.  It does seem that the people in charge don't seem to know what they're doing, and that is where most of the fear is really coming from.  It doesn't inspire much confidence at all that the emergency response team was disbanded two years and has never been replaced.

This Sunday's bonus is another Positive, a very encouraging graphic showing the past 33 years of the market's response to crisis, showing quite clearly that it always comes back and in a rather big way.  The Negative: at least in the past it's always taken a while.  Let's hope not this time.  Hope everyone has enjoyed this sunny and pleasant weekend.  Rain ahead, but at least that means it'll be warmer.

Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 2.28.20

February 28, 2020 5:30pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending February 28th, 2020:

Positives:

1. Orderly 10% repricing of markets has yet to turn into full blown panic.
2. New home sales rose 764k m/o/m, above the expected 710k.
3. FHFA House Price Index rose 0.6% m/o/m, above the expected increase of 0.3%.
4. Home mortgage apps rose 6.0% w/o/w, above the previous decrease of 3.0%.
5. Pending home sales rose 5.2% w/o/w, above the expected increase of 2.2%.
6. State Street Investor confidence index came in at 77.9, above the previous 75.4.

Negatives:

1. Worst week since 2008 as markets shed >10%;
2. Its amateur hour: Neither POTUS nor the skeletal staff CDC are prepared to respond to a global pandemic;
3. Durable goods orders fell 0.2% w/o/w, below the previous increase of 2.9%.
4. Jobless claims rose 8k w/o/w from 211k to 219k.
5. Home refinance apps fell 1.0% w/o/w, after the previous decrease of 8.0%;
6. Wholesale inventories fell 0.2% w/o/w, below the expected increase of 0.1%.