Conrad Black: Coronavirus' political toll

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about America's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during an address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 11. Doug Mills/Pool via REUTERS

There is no need to emphasize now that there is no other option in any advanced country than to apply drastic measures to reduce the probability that members of its population will become infected with the coronavirus. As the average age of those who died from the disease in the United States is 80 years, and the death rate in the United States for those under 70 years affected by the coronavirus is approximately between a quarter and a fifth of one percent of those affected, the greatest and most urgent effort should be to protect frail elderly people from any exposure to it.

Certainly, the level of danger this disease presents to a sophisticated country in terms of public health, such as Canada and the United States, does not justify the level of media and public hysteria that has assaulted financial markets and has affected most of the media of the United States. Since the imagination is often more devious than reality, it is easy to jump into a state of acute spontaneous nervousness about a virus that can kill people.

What is said

"More Violent, More Persistent": Market Fear Worse Now Than In 2008, Man Who Inspired VIX Says

The academic best known for coming up with the idea of the VIX — also know as Wall Street’s fear gauge — says that the fear looming over the markets now is far greater than the fear we faced in 2008.

Dan Galai, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told Bloomberg:

“The level of uncertainty is even beyond what we saw in 2008 immediately after Lehman Brothers collapsed.”

Galai continued:

We Have Nothing to Fear from CO2 | A Supplement to Nothing to Fear | By Donn Dears (PDF)

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M&M Exclusive: Peter Schiff — Fed Stimulus Will Light ‘Fire Under Hard Assets’

Notably, Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff said he believes the Federal Reserve will do whatever it takes to reinflate the bubble after Wall Street collapsed this week in a bear market.

And things are certainly very bad right now, even casual observers are generally aware that stocks have fallen since mid-February, with the top three US indexes falling in a bear market, a decline in 20% or more from recent historical highs.

Likewise, it has been indicated that the fall finally ended with the record expansion that began in 2009.

While the numbers did not officially drop 20% until this week, Schiff said in an exclusive interview with Money & Markets that it was simply a matter of catching up on the reality of equities, which he said were already at a bear market.

Experts speak

The seeds of the next debt crisis

It should be noted that with debt levels already at a record level, there are those who consider that the coronavirus increases the risk of a credit crisis in a world of low-interest rates.

Undoubtedly, the shock caused by the coronavirus in markets around the world coincides with a dangerous financial backdrop marked by the spiral of global debt. In fact, according to the Institute of International Finance, a trade group, the ratio of global debt to gross domestic product reached a record high of over 322 percent in the third quarter of 2019, with total debt close to $ 253bn. In this way, it could be said that the implication, if the virus continues to spread, is that any fragility in the financial system has the potential to trigger a new debt crisis.

Likewise, it is understood that in the short term, the behavior of credit markets will be critical. Despite declining bond yields and borrowing costs since the markets panicked, financial conditions have tightened for weaker corporate borrowers. Their access to bond markets has become more difficult.

Search for an answer

How Canada’s Mining Sector Impacts the Economy

Canada is a mining nation.

From the Rockies to the Canadian Shield, and from the Plains and to the North, the variety of geology that exists in the country is immense — and this has created a large and unique opportunity for groundbreaking mineral discoveries.

As a result, Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters of minerals and metals, supplying approximately 60 different mineral commodities to over 100 countries.

An Intro to Canadian Mining

Today’s infographic comes to us from Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan and it highlights an industry that has given Canada a competitive advantage in the global economy.

Jackson Keane requested to be pulled from Saturday's lineup so all the seniors could play

UND captain Colton Poolman hugs his dad, hockey athletic trainer Mark Poolman, after the Fighting Hawks bested Western Michigan 2-1 in overtime Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

Jackson Keane was supposed to be in the lineup Saturday.

The UND junior forward played an outstanding game in Friday’s 3–1 win over Western Michigan, setting up the first goal with a slick pass through a defender to spring a two-on-one rush.

Keane’s teammates recognized his outstanding night by awarding him the hard hat, which goes to their choice for player of the game.

It was a breakthrough moment for Keane, who had been in-and-out of the lineup all year. Since October, Keane had only played on back-to-back nights one time. But after four months of scratching and clawing for a lineup spot, he had finally earned a spot for an entire series.