Señor Tony
3 of a Kind
If there is one this that markets hate, it is uncertainty. The past couple of months have reflected this with record daily losses followed by large gains in many global markets. Nobody knows how bad or how long this will end up being and market volitility is reflecting that.
The Australian reserve bank has already stepped in once to provide emergency cash in repo markets to avoid a banking liquidity crisis. I understand the US Federal reserve has done something similar. Possibly other countries have as well?
Interest rates are already at record lows in many countries, will we see more countries with negative rates?
I can't even begin to get my head around how hard this is going to be on so many small businesses.
Pick an industry that involves gatherings of large people or travel and then expand the small businesses, contractors and sole traders that will be affected.
Take something like weddings: caterers, bands, florists, venues for hire, wait staff, photographers, dress shops, tuxedo hire places, wedding planners...
How about large annual cultural festivals: think state fairs, food and wine festivals, multi-day music festivals, rodeos, art festivals etc where many participants or vendors get a large percentage of their annual earnings from ONE event.
Professional sporting events: game day ticket sales and stadium concessions. Pre-gaming at bars, pubs and restaurants. People watching sports games in bars and pubs.
Don't even get me started on the travel and tourism industry.
Still very early days but if the GFC can be reflected on as a "trickle-down" financial crisis I believe Covid-19 will develop as a "trickle-up" financial crisis.
Let's try to keep partisan politics out of this discussion and focus on the economics of the pandemic in general.
The Australian reserve bank has already stepped in once to provide emergency cash in repo markets to avoid a banking liquidity crisis. I understand the US Federal reserve has done something similar. Possibly other countries have as well?
Interest rates are already at record lows in many countries, will we see more countries with negative rates?
I can't even begin to get my head around how hard this is going to be on so many small businesses.
Pick an industry that involves gatherings of large people or travel and then expand the small businesses, contractors and sole traders that will be affected.
Take something like weddings: caterers, bands, florists, venues for hire, wait staff, photographers, dress shops, tuxedo hire places, wedding planners...
How about large annual cultural festivals: think state fairs, food and wine festivals, multi-day music festivals, rodeos, art festivals etc where many participants or vendors get a large percentage of their annual earnings from ONE event.
Professional sporting events: game day ticket sales and stadium concessions. Pre-gaming at bars, pubs and restaurants. People watching sports games in bars and pubs.
Don't even get me started on the travel and tourism industry.
Still very early days but if the GFC can be reflected on as a "trickle-down" financial crisis I believe Covid-19 will develop as a "trickle-up" financial crisis.
Let's try to keep partisan politics out of this discussion and focus on the economics of the pandemic in general.