dChan
Anonymous ID: 5f2299 March 4, 2020, 12:01 p.m. No.8317575   🗄️.is đź”—kun

>>8317507

>>8317539

They are so screwed and the lower the Bond/ Treasury complex goes the noose tightens. Still moar attractive (rate-wise) then the rest of the world.

the bond market does it, the FRB is just the grocery clerk. Eventually this will come out to wider public but most people think that the FRB sets rates.

 

 

Fed Beige Book reports first negative impact of coronavirus on U.S. economy

 

Travel and tourism hit, supply-chain disruptions feared from COVID-19 outbreak.

 

The coronavirus outbreak was starting to have an impact on the U.S. economy, especially the travel and tourism industry, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report released Wednesday.

 

The report, a collection of anecdotes from the central bank’s business contacts around the country, found worries that manufacturing supply-chains would be disrupted in coming weeks. Overall, the coronavirus was seen as a risk to the economy, along with the coming presidential election.

 

What happened: Even without the coronavirus, growth seemed to have slowed since the start of the year. While economic activity was seen as “modest to moderate” in the majority of Fed districts, two regional Fed districts — St. Louis and Kansas City— reported growth had come to a standstill. Auto sales were “mixed” overall, and some sectors, including manufacturing, retail, and transportation companies, had less need for workers.

 

Big picture: Worried about the impact of the coronavirus, the Fed cut its benchmark rate by half-point on Tuesday to a range of 1%-1.25%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the spread of the coronavirus had caused a material change in the growth outlook. Many economists fear a wider slowdown as people shy away from restaurants and theaters.

 

Interesting anecdotes:

 

• In Philadelphia, customers are avoiding some of the region’s Asian restaurants as unfounded fears spread about the coronavirus.

 

• Broadway shows experienced a sharper drop in attendance than normally seen after the holiday season.

 

• Some freight haulers in Cleveland held wages steady and reduced hours and benefits. Some executives said that excess truck capacity and weakness in manufacturing had negatively affected their markets.

 

• Richmond reported that some shippers from China were canceling ports of call.

 

• Contacts reported that the COVID-19 outbreak, the infectious disease that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China in December and has infected more than 92,000 people so far, had started to hurt exports of nuts and other California crops.

 

Market reaction: U.S. equity benchmarks were higher Wednesday after the strong showing on Super Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +3.40% was up by nearly 800 points, with gains holding after the Fed’s Beige Book.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-beige-book-reports-first-negative-impacts-of-coronavirus-on-us-economy-2020-03-04

Anonymous ID: 5f2299 March 4, 2020, 12:09 p.m. No.8317629   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7760

Record stashes of steel fill China's mills as factories stall

 

HANGHAI/GUANGZHOU – Inventories are piling up to all-time highs at Chinese steelmakers as the coronavirus epidemic hamstrings factories and construction sites while logistical difficulties stall shipments.

 

Prices of steel products in the country have fallen nearly 10% over the past month. If inventories continue to rise in China, which accounts for more than half of global steel production, surplus products may be exported at low prices, pulling steelmakers worldwide into the doldrums again.

 

"Even backup warehouses are filled up with steel products as our customers have yet to restore operations and the flow of goods has stagnated," said an official at Magang (Group) Holding, a leading Chinese steelmaker.

 

The China Iron and Steel Industry Association says inventories at member companies totaled a record 21.34 million tons as of Feb. 20, up 45% from a year earlier.

 

Inventory of steel products in China had surged to 17.45 million tons in June 2015, the highest before 2019, amid global concern about excess production by Chinese makers. But the current level exceeds that figure by more than 20%. Steelmakers usually ship these stockpiled products following the holiday season. But that has not happened this year, largely because construction companies – which use half of steel output – have yet to resume work at many building sites.

 

Subway construction in central Guangzhou remains halted. Tens of employees worked there before the Lunar New Year holiday season, with the sounds of excavators ringing out into the night. Seasonal workers who come to urban areas from rural villages are staying home due to transportation difficulties. The roughly 300 million migrant workers who went home for the holiday will not return in full for work until after March, China's Transport Ministry said. Construction appears unlikely to resume anytime soon as local governments put workers suspected of being infected into quarantine.

 

Many public works projects have been delayed. Just 47% of major national road construction projects and 48% of river and other water transportation projects had resumed by the end of February, the ministry said. Manufacturers, the other main destination of steel shipments, also have yet to restore operations. Auto plants have delayed resuming work due to the post-holiday shortage of employees and parts.

 

The auto industry remains far below full speed. Honda Motor, for example, postponed the restart of its plant in the Chinese city of Wuhan – the original epicenter of the outbreak – until at least March 11.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Commodities/Record-stashes-of-steel-fill-China-s-mills-as-factories-stall