MARKET RECAP

Stocks fell hard, dropping 4.90% in the US and 3.62% outside the US. On Thursday, stocks fell by 5.90% and the Dow dropped by 7%, on a surge in virus cases and comments by the Fed indicating a long recovery in the job market.

Meanwhile, Hertz (HTZ) advanced by 100% for the week, breaking $6 at one point, even though the company had previously filed for bankruptcy. It would be normal for a bankrupt company to sell at or very close to $0, but this indicative of the new wave of day traders that speculate on anything that might move in price regardless of the fundamentals.

The Fed announced that they would keep interest rates at very low levels for years and were studying ways to help the economy.

The National Bureau of Economic Research made it official, stating that the US entered a recession in February, ending a 128-month expansion. While the announcement was no surprise, when it might end is still up in the air. So far Congress has spent $3.3 trillion to support the economy. The Congressional Budget Office said it would take a good part of the decade to recover and they are looking for a $3.7 trillion dollar deficit this year. The World Bank said that they expect the global economy to shrink by 5.2% this year.

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