Still in the thick of it

Good morning,

This is NP/NR Daily, meant to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the markets and economy, and what you can do about it — if anything.

Shout out to Bently Wong. Because he’s a cool guy.

Here’s what’s happening as we start the week.

———————————————————

The markets were on a wild ride last week, but this week could be another bummer

I know many people don’t care what’s happening with the stock market, but it’s important to have an idea of what’s going on in the markets — especially now, as the president does seem to pay close attention to them, and thus, the decision he makes may be influenced by the Dow.

So, to recap, the markets cratered on Monday, and then came roaring back over the subsequent three days. Then, on Friday, they were down again. I talked to some financial professionals on Friday to see what they thought, and the prevailing message was that we’re not out of the woods.

In short: Get ready for another week of avoiding looking at your 401(k). 

No, this isn’t close to being over

I witnessed a message from someone who lives in a small town to someone in the NYC area this weekend. It asked if things would be back to normal by April 15. The answer, of course, is “no,” and the more precise answer is “not even close, why would you even think so?”

Let’s keep things in perspective: Testing still hasn’t ramped up around the country, and just because you don’t know anyone who’s gotten sick doesn’t mean that the virus hasn’t hit your community. In fact, we’re just starting to see cases pop up in smaller cities and communities.

Experts still don’t think we’ll see the peak of the pandemic until late April or sometime in May. And remember, that this assumes officials can get things under control and people stay the hell away from each other and respect quarantines — which doesn’t seem to be happening.

I wouldn’t expect things to return to ‘normalish’ for at least a month, depending on where you live. As for us here in the NYC area? I’m just hoping I took the perishable food out of my desk, because it could be months before I return to work.

We’ll see what happens on Monday.

Sam