Saudi Arabia increased budget spending sharply for many years until the oil bull run ended in 2014. This led to a steep rise in the country's fiscal break-even oil price.
The economy will remain sick in the medium term in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, giving gold the wings. Put axiomatically, the worse it is for the economy, the better for gold.
Even as the May contract US crude went for trade in low negative territory, the June contract saw trade in the normal range, rising $1.72 cents (8.4 percent), to $22.15 a barrel.
Shareholders of HSBS mull over conducting an extraordinary meeting with management and possible legal action against the bank's scrapping of dividend payments
Global corporate revenue are expected to take $12 trillion hit; Goldman Sachs warns that global real GDP will shrink by about 1 percent in 2020 from the coronavirus impact.
Before the dotcom bust the US market cap was 146 percent of the of GDP, while it was 137 percent before the 2008 Financial Crisis. On March 4, 2020, it was 146 percent.
Brent crude futures fell by $14.25 on Monday to $31.02 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) plunged $11.28 after the Saudi move to to $30 a barrel.
Berkshire Hathaway sold off 3.7 million shares during the between between October and December 2019 at a time when Apple's share price was rising at 30% from $219 to $294