This article provides an overview of news that may be relevant to three different markets: equities (mainly U.S. stocks), commodities (mainly gold), and crypto (mainly Bitcoin).

The price information you’ll see in this article was taken around 08:00 UTC on 4 May 2020. The data providers used for pre-market trading data are as follows:

Two pieces of news seem to be on the minds of many investors today.

First, on Saturday (May 2), legendary American investor Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men, as well as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, made some worrisome comments at his company’s 2020 Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, which was broadcast on Yahoo Finance.

According to a report by CNBC, during the meeting, Buffett explained why Berkshire Hathaway had not made any major investments recently despite the drop in U.S. stock prices as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and despite the fact that his company is sitting on a mountain of cash (to be more precise, $137 billion in cash and equivalent instruments, according to Berkshire Hathaway’s latest 10-Q filing):

“We have not done anything, because we don’t see anything that attractive to do… Now that could change very quickly or it may not change…”

“We are willing to do something very big. I mean you could come to me on Monday morning with something that involved $30, or $40 billion or $50 billion. And if we really like what we are seeing, we would do it.”

As Anthony Pompliano (aka “Pomp”), Co-founder and Partner at Morgan Creek Digital, pointed out yesterday in a Q&A session (on the economy and financial markets) broadcast live on YouTube yesterday, Buffett’s hesitancy to pull the trigger could mean that he expects further falls in the prices of U.S. stocks.

Second, on Sunday (May 3), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” program that the Trump administration believed that the Chinese government “did all it could to make the sure the world didn’t learn in a timely fashion about what was taking place” in China in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, according to ABC, there are U.S. intelligence reports that say the coronavirus may have come from a lab in Wuhan and that China quietly stockpiled medical supplies (such as masks) in the early January.

Pompeo then went on to say that China’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis had resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives around the world and that President Trump intends to “hold those responsible accountable.”

CNN says that “multiple sources inside the administration say that there is an appetite to use various tools, including sanctions, canceling US debt obligations and drawing up new trade policies, to make clear to China, and to everyone else, where they feel the responsibility lies.”

Equities

Here is how various stock markets around the world are doing on Monday morning (London time):

  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng: -4.18%
  • Japan’s Nikkei 225: -2.84%
  • France’s CAC 40: -3.70%
  • Germany’s DAX: -32.%
  • UK’s FTSE 100: -0.14%

Commodities

Spot gold is trading at $1,705.49, up $16.75 (or +1%).

In the year-to-date period, gold is up 17.50%.

Cryptoassets

Bitcoin is trading at $8,697, down 3.74% in the past 24-hour period:

BTC-USD 24 Hour Chart on 4 May 2020.png

In the year-to-date period, Bitcoin is up 21.07%.

Yesterday, blockchain analytics firm Glassnode said that with just over eight days left to the next Bitcoin Halving (which is occurring on May 12), Bitcoin’s hash rate had set a new all-time high:

Earlier today, crypto-focused behavior analytics startup Santiment commented on Bitcoin’s recent retracement:

 

Featured Image by “272447-272447” via Pixabay.com