Trump's speech was a disaster
Donald Trump as an incredible ability to read the public mood and tap into it. He was able to parlay that into a business empire and the Presidency.
Late yesterday when he announced that he would be making a speech, I thought he had finally read the mood correctly in markets and in the world. I thought he might make a total transformation and re-cast himself as being ahead of the virus. I thought he might try to make some kind of grand public health statement
Instead we got a bumbling response and a way-overdue shutdown of travel to Europe.
There was no sense that he had any idea that an Italy/China-style pandemic is on the US doorstep and there's still no large-scale testing capability. As a result, futures are limit down again.
This isn't going to end until many countries take the steps that Italy took today. I can't see markets finding any kind of bottom until leaders wake up.
There will be dramatic bounces because there are people who think that central banks and tax cuts can solve any crisis, but this isn't one of those times.
