Overseas countries have become the main battlefield in the fight against the epidemic. According to the latest real-time statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 5:30 on March 16, Beijing time, there were 162,687 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases outside China exceeded 80,000 and reached 81,625. The cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 overseas has surpassed that in China, making it the main battlefield in the fight against the epidemic. Currently, the COVID-19 epidemic has covered 143 countries in Asia, America, Europe, Oceania, and Africa. Not only does the epidemic continue to spread abroad, but it has also been reported that senior officials from some countries have been diagnosed. China has also recently shifted its prevention and control focus to controlling imported cases.
Timely announcements of reserve requirement ratio and interest rate cuts at home and abroad curbed the economic downturn. Last night, the Federal Reserve urgently announced that it would lower its benchmark interest rate to near zero and launch a new round of quantitative easing worth US$700 billion to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the US economy. Previously, the Federal Reserve announced an emergency interest rate cut of 50 basis points in the past two weeks and expanded the scale of overnight credit refinancing of the financial system to $1.5 trillion. In order to support the development of the real economy and reduce the actual cost of social financing, the central bank decided to implement a targeted reserve requirement ratio reduction for inclusive finance on March 16, 2020, with a targeted reduction of 0.5 to 1 percentage point for banks that meet the assessment standards. In addition, eligible joint-stock commercial banks will be targeted to reduce the required reserve ratio by an additional 1 percentage point to support the issuance of loans in the inclusive finance field. The above targeted RRR cuts have released a total of 550 billion yuan in long-term funds.
Zheng Mian cannot stand alone and continues to hit new lows. On March 16, Zheng cotton opened lower and moved lower. The main CF2005 contract reached a low of 11,435 yuan/ton during the session, continuing to refresh the previous low. The interest rate cuts and reserve requirement ratio cuts in the United States and China have not suppressed the downward trend of Zheng Cotton. Some market participants believe that the current systemic risks are still in the escalation stage, and policy regulation has very limited stimulation on the mentality of the industry. Futures prices continue to decline, and the spot market is also devastated. Affected by psychological factors, traders say that they have received almost no inquiries for consecutive days, and the trading atmosphere is really deserted. The hope of futures investors to buy the bottom seems quite slim, and most traders have withdrawn from the market and waited to see the development of the epidemic. </p
