Weekly Financial Summary - March 13

The Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE) saw another consecutive week of decline. Overall market activity saw 93 stocks trading, 15 advanced, 76 declined and 2 traded firm.

The Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE) saw another consecutive week of decline. Overall market activity saw 93 stocks trading, 15 advanced, 76 declined and 2 traded firm. The Main market advanced by 15,790.75 points while the Junior market decline by 216.6 points, a slower rate of decline when compared to the previous weeks. As the market continues to remain bearish, we encourage investors to take charge of the opportunity to average down or purchase shares at a considerably lower price.

In the U.S stock market, Wall Street’s main stock indexes plummeted and the Dow Jones Industrials crashed 2,000 points on Monday as a 20% slump in oil prices and the rapid spread of the coronavirus amplified fears of a global recession. Trading was halted immediately after the opening, as the benchmark S&P 500 tumbled 7% to its lowest since June 2019, triggering an automatic 15-minute cut-out originally put in place to avoid a repeat of the “Black Monday” crash in 1987, when the Dow slumped nearly 23%.

Companies listed on the S&P 500 have now lost more than $5 trillion in value in a sell-off sparked by fears that the coronavirus epidemic could end the longest U.S. economic expansion on record.

Closing the week, stocks rebounded as investors bet on another round of fiscal easing to thwart a looming global recession in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 509.71 points, or 2.40%, at 21,710.33, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 73.08 points, or 2.95%, at 2,553.72. The NASDAQ Composite .IXIC was up 207.16 points, or 2.88%, at 7,408.58.

The US markets this week faced what was called the worst selloff in more than three decades, but the indexes recouped some of their losses on optimism that U.S. Democrats and Republicans could announce a stimulus package by Friday.

Oil prices fell sharply this week after Saudi Arabia started a price war with Russia. Oil declined by the most since 1991 when Saudi Arabia slashed its selling prices and pledged to unleash its pent-up supply onto a market reeling from falling demand because of the coronavirus outbreak. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell about 23% on the week, their biggest percentage decline since 2008. WTI rose 23 cents to settle at $31.73 a barrel, after earlier gaining to $33.87 a gallon.

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