11/04/2020
Hope everyone is coping well during this period!
First week of the month, time flies as we have entered Q2 of 2020. The covid-19 situation has wiped out most economical gains. Looking at the brighter side, the world’s environment is recovering because there was lesser pollution due to controlled measures and lockdowns.
Looking at the initial jobless claims in US last week, their approach to tackle the current situation is different from Singapore because Singapore priorities jobs as the budgets given to us was largely used to save jobs.
Firstly, we will look at the PMIs numbers. As we know in Europe sectors they have implement shut down on March as the numbers of covid-19 cases has been rising. People stopped working and the Manufacturing PMI numbers of 43 to 48 dropped to between 40 to 42. Hence indicating that the Manufacturing businesses are taking losses for the whole of march. Looking at non-manufacturing sector, the declined is sharped from a range of 52 to 54, it has dropped to between 10 to 27 which is a significant drop, non-manufacturing sector we largely look at service line such as banking services, aviation sector as well as hotels are taking an even larger hit.
Next, the OPEC+ Meeting in April 9 came out to be a no deal. After the meeting, we have seen WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil to have a drop from 27 to around 23 (estimation of 11% drop and Brent crude oil from a slight recovery of 34 to 31 (estimation of 4% drop). Will this continue on?
Looking at past trends, oil prices typically increases as market increase because there is a demand on the usage of oil, considering oil as an essential. At the moment, most sectors are not operating.
This week, we will do a little something different!
Tag 2 friends, comment below what do you think will WTI prices will be going up or heading down for the upcoming week? Deadline for answers will be on the coming Thursday! Winners will walk away with a gift that is worth up to $15,000 and will be announced on next Saturday in the comment below (up to 2 winners)! Stay tuned!
Good news for all Singaporean!! We currently having stricter measures to control our spread as number has been surging. The things that we can look forward to in this period of time is the $600 Solidarity Payment coming in on Tuesday!
In the midst of this current situation, feel free to ask us any questions with regards to investment, insurance and information that you are unsure! Do take some time to do self-improvement, making a 1% improvement each day, we will come out smarter and stronger after this virus situation subsides! Stay safe and stay sane!
PS: The above information provided is opinionated please seek advice from a licensed financial advisor before acting on any information. Thank you.