Dow Jones Index Plummets 631 Points as Oil Prices Worsen

US stocks took another tumble into red territory on Tuesday, marking back-to-back days in which the New York Stock Exchange experienced volatile trading amid a crash in global oil prices brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell by 631.56 points, bringing its two-day loss to over 1,200 points. The Nasdaq Composite plummeted by 297.50 points, whereas the S&P 500 posted a loss of 86.60 points.

Stocks hit hardest during the volatile session belonged to computer hardware company IBM, cigarette company Philip Morris International, car rental company Hertz Global, natural gas company ONEOK and software company Alteryx, among other companies.

“Market volatility remains intense, as subtle changes in the tone of the news drives dramatic shifts in investor sentiment,” Mark Hackett, chief of investment research for insurance company Nationwide, told CNBC.

“Markets rallied sharply last week on hope that the worst of the outbreak is behind us. This optimism is likely to face headwinds, as the reopening of the economy is heading for an intense debate.”

US President Donald Trump last week announced guidelines for a phased reopening for US states that would ultimately pave the way for a kick start of the American economy. The announcement came amid several protests held across the Land of the Free by Americans calling on their states’ respective governors to lift lockdown measures imposed to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Yields on the 10-year Treasury note, meanwhile, also took a bit of a nosedive on Tuesday, falling to 0.55%. Analysts say that the drop, which marked yields’ lowest level since March, underscores investors’ diminishing appetite for risk as funds are transferred into bonds.

Global Oil Price Crash Deepens

The day’s hectic trading was largely fueled by concerns surrounding oil futures, which initially saw the May contract for West Texas Intermediate drop to zero before sinking into negative territory on Monday - meaning sellers would be the ones paying interested buyers to take barrels from their stockpiles.

Although the May contract was able to reverse losses and make sufficient gains Tuesday before closing, investor worries weren’t exactly eased at the news, since the more actively traded June oil contract fell over 60% to some $7 a barrel at its lowest earlier in the day.

What’s more, a contract for July has also been affected by the oversupply, as its value fell over 20% to roughly $19.

Hours before trading wrapped for the day on Wall Street, Trump tweeted that he’d instructed secretaries of the Treasury Department and the Department of Energy to “formulate a plan which will make funds available” to American oil and gas companies. It’s unclear how much money would be shelled out or which companies would ultimately be eligible to receive it.

Louise Dickson, an oil market analyst for research company Rystad Energy, told CNBC in an emailed statement that “oil futures continue to defy gravity.”

“This moment is of course historical and could not better illustrate the price-utopia that the market has been in since March, when the full scale of the oversupply problem started to become evident but the market remained oblivious,” she said.

Since early March, when the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, concerns regarding its effect on the global economy have been at the forefront for many financial analysts, as dozens of companies and entire industries were forced to temporarily close. More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the beginning of March, according to data released by the US Department of Labor.

https://sputniknews.com/business/202004211079048314-dow-jones-index-plummets-over-600-points-as-oil-prices-worsen/

At Least 25 French Cities and Towns Erupt in Riots as ‘Youths’ Attack Police

Areas in at least 25 cities and departments in France erupted into rioting on Monday night, including attacks on police and attempts to burn down a police station in Strasbourg.

Some of the incidents are believed to have been sparked by a Saturday night motorcycle accident in the Paris suburb of Villeneuve-la-Garenne which also involved the local police.

The 30-year-old motorcycle rider was seriously injured after an unmarked police vehicle opened its door at a red light, which the motorcyclist struck and then ended up hitting a nearby pole. He was taken to hospital with a fractured leg and a fractured femur.

Rioting began in Villeneuve-la-Garenne on Sunday night, according to broadcaster France Bleu, and continued on Monday night with fireworks launched at police.

Several other Paris suburbs also saw violence and rioting including the notorious no-go area of Seine-Saint-Denis which saw garbage cans lit on fire in both Aulnay-sous-Bois and Saint-Denis.

Several areas also reported attacks on police directly in Asnières, Nanterre, Meudon, Clamart, and Gennevilliers.

The department of Yvelines, which has seen nearly daily attacks on the police for the past two weeks, reported officers attacked in the city of Noé by a group of around 20 individuals who launched projectiles and fireworks at them.

Less than an hour later in the commune of La Verrière, another police patrol was attacked by a group of around five people. Rocks were then thrown at officers in Mantes-la-Jolie and a bus was attacked with fireworks in Sartrouville a short time later.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/21/25-french-cities-towns-erupt-riots-youths-attack-police/

Coronavirus: UK’s Historic Parliament Reopens With Zoom-Based Hybrid Digital Chamber

The UK House of Commons has resumed its business with a digital hybrid chamber reportedly powered by Zoom, the popular video conferencing service shunned by U.S. and Taiwanese lawmakers over security concerns.

While Britain’s House of Commons is cramped by design — it has 427 seats for 650 members, said to be a deliberate decision to make crowded sittings feel more urgent and momentous — the new coronavirus parliament is forcing members to give each other personal space. Limiting those allowed to be physically present to 50 out of 650 who should have the right to sit, several rows of seating have been physically blocked with temporary wooden barriers.

Further seats on unblocked benches have been declared out of bounds with small ‘no entry’ stickers, with authorised sitting spaces denoted by a green tick.

The green carpets of the Commons have also been divided up with black and yellow hazard tape, adding a decidedly modern flourish to the more normal red stripes, which show the point at which no member from the government or opposition benches can advance beyond. The lines are set two swords’ length apart, a testimony to the passionate debates that took place in the chamber in the days when gentlemen generally went about carrying steel.

But perhaps the greatest intrusion into Britain’s historic lower chamber is the inclusion of several large television screens which will link to a live videoconference feed, allowing a further 120 members to participate in the debate from home. Even with the two methods combined, the new hybrid chamber will still be limited to just 170 members from a 650 member house to engage in any given debate.

Britain’s newspaper of record The Times, and several others reports the videoconferencing element of the digital hybrid chamber is being provided by Zoom, an app which has surged in popularity during the course of the coronavirus lockdown, but has been the subject to repeated concerns about security and privacy.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/21/coronavirus-uks-historic-parliament-reopens-with-zoom-based-hybrid-digital-chamber/

How the ‘Evil Called Barack Obama’ Enabled the Genocide of Nigerian Christians

Not only is Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari behind what several international observers are calling a “genocide” of Christians in his nation, but Barack Hussein Obama played a major role in the Muslim president’s rise to power. These two interconnected accusations are increasingly being made – not by “xenophobic” Americans but Nigerians themselves, including several leaders and officials.

Most recently, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former minister of culture and tourism, wrote in a Facebook post:

What Obama, John Kerry and Hilary Clinton did to Nigeria by funding and supporting Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and helping Boko Haram in 2014/2015 was sheer wickedness and the blood of all those killed by the Buhari administration, his Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram over the last 5 years are on their hands.

Kerry’s and Clinton’s appeasement of Boko Haram – an Islamic terror organization notorious for massacring, enslaving, and raping Christians, and bombing and burning their churches – is apparently what connects them to this “sheer wickedness.”

For example, after a Nigerian military offensive killed 30 Boko Haram terrorists in 2013, then secretary of state Kerry “issued a strongly worded statement” to Buhari’s predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015), a Christian. In it, Kerry warned Jonathan that “We are… deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations” against the terrorists.

Similarly, during her entire tenure as secretary of state, Clinton repeatedly refused to designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization, despite nonstop pressure from lawmakers, human-rights activists, and lobbyists, ignoring Boko Haram’s countless atrocities against Christians.

“Those of you that still love the evil called Barack Obama,” Fani-Kayode added in his post, “should listen to this short clip and tell me if you still do.” He was referring to a recent Al Jazeera video interview of Eeben Barlow, a former lieutenant-colonel of the South African Defence Force and chairman of a private military company hired in 2015 by Nigerian President Jonathan to help defeat Boko Haram.

“In one month,” Barlow said in the interview, “we took back terrain larger than Belgium from Boko Haram. We were not allowed to finish because it came at a time when governments were in the process of changing,” he said in reference to Nigeria’s 2015 presidential elections. “The incoming president, President Buhari, was heavily supported by a foreign government, and one of the first missions [of Buhari] was to terminate our contract.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/04/how_the_evil_called_barack_obama_enabled_the_genocide_of_nigerian_christians.html