April 2, 2020

Good Thursday morning,

Yesterday’s sharp declines in all three major stock market averages was a true sign of the degree of fear and uncertainty about the spread and lethality of the Coronavirus.  The Trump administration announced some pretty chilling predictions of what the next few weeks may bring, namely a sharp rise in both the number of those infected with the virus and the number of people ultimately dying from the disease.

Early this morning, market futures were up more than 400 points on the almost 10% rise in oil prices.  In recent weeks, the major oil-producing nations of Russia and Saudi Arabia have been in conflict, sending global oil prices to an 80+ year low.  With today’s rise in oil prices, the market saw some semblance of good news.

Then came the announcement of last week’s jobless claims.  With economists expecting to see somewhere between 4 and 5 million workers filing for unemployment benefits, the actual figure came in at just more than 6.6 million.  That sent the Dow futures back into negative territory.  As of 7:30am PDT, the Dow had recovered from earlier losses to be back in the green.

The investment management community is a very collaborative one - our team remains in daily contact with some of the very best institutional asset managers, and they assist us in determining the best course of action every step along the way.

This is likely to be a very long month.  Our best to you and your family at this difficult time.