By
Steve Muchoki
April 16th, 2024
WHO presses the red-alert button declaring the COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The WHO director showed disappointment in the ineffectiveness of the global leaders to deal with this situation. Global markets are entering a bear period. Dow Jones has lost 1400 points.
On Wednesday, March 11, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 as a global pandemic due to its rapid spread across the globe. Starting from China’s Wuhan city, the virus has quickly spread all across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Meanwhile, Dow Jones once again has lost an impressive amount of points.
Speaking at a press conference from WHO’s Geneva headquarters, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:
“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled. In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”
Tedros said that while several countries are initiating steps to control the virus outbreak, a majority of the world leaders have failed to act effectively. Just before declaring the COVID-19 as a global pandemic, he said:
“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said that his administration is fully prepared for further challenges. He also assured that his government along with the Federal Reserve will take all effective measures.
I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2020
The economic ramifications of the virus spread are already out in the open. Global markets have been crashing severely every passing day and there seems to be no bottom for this at this stage.
Dow Jones Sinks Another 1400 Points
On Wednesday, Dow Jones and global markets came crashing down. Dow Jones plunged over 5% another 1400 points closing at 23,552 levels. Dow Jones has plunged over 20% from the record highs set last month. As per the CNBC report, this is a solid confirmation that we have officially entered a bear market.
Besides, this has also put an end to the market expansion which started in 2009 after the financial crisis. Michael Farr, president of investment firm Farr, Miller & Washington, said:
“Bear markets are ugly. They’re painful and they all last too long. Sadly, it seems that a new one is just getting started.”
In an email to the Washington Post, Howard Yu, LEGO professor and director of the advanced management program at the Lausanne, wrote: “Markets will continue to tumble. We can’t predict yet when they might bottom out, because we don’t know how long the global virus will spread.”
everyone is eagerly waiting for some fiscal stimulus measures which can pump the economy ahead. Earlier this week, President Trump announced 0% payroll tax rate for the rest of the year. However, analysts are not quite happy with these kinds of measures.
“Markets seem disappointed that the White House did not release details of its fiscal response to the coronavirus. We are still in early days and policymakers are continuing to grapple with different options and negotiate between the two parties and between Congress and the administration,” Brian Gardner, a Washington policy analyst at KBW, told CNBC.
