March 17, 2020 —Financial markets have experienced extreme turmoil, with the damage not limited to the equity or taxable bond market. Typically viewed as a safe haven during times of stock market duress, munis have also experienced extreme levels of volatility that surpass 2008 crisis levels and are approaching October 1987 values.
March 15, 2020 — The Federal Reserve surprised markets again and took emergency measures on Sunday night, March 15, including cutting rates to zero and a plan to purchase $700 billion worth of Treasuries and mortgages in the coming months. Late in the day the Fed announced the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) conducted an emergency meeting in lieu of their scheduled meeting later in the week.
March 10, 2020—The stock market and economic outlooks are changing rapidly. Over the past few days we have witnessed several developments that led us to downgrade our outlook for the economy and markets and moved a 2020 recession into our base case. However, with hysteria evident everywhere from the floor of the NY Stock Exchange to the toilet paper aisle of Costco, we would encourage clients not to panic.
