Nikkei 225 the First to Recover, Gold Facing Historical Shortage

25 mar 2020

The Nikkei 225, or Japanese Stock Index had an 8% gain for the day, following on from its 7% gain from the previous day. Less than a week ago the Nikkei had just hit lows not seen since 2017, falling below 20,000 points. However in just 2 days it has made back its losses and is now rapidly on the rebound back to the 20,000 mark.

As well as this, other Asian stocks are on the recovery as well, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, Korean KOSPI, and Shanghai Composite all on the upside.

In Europe, the UK FTSE 100 is following suit, with a 2.5% increase for the day.

Following on from this, it is reasonable to expect the US stock indices to produce a similar pattern in the upcoming days. US stocks have already started to recover, with the Dow Jones posting its best single day session since 1933, rising 11.4%.

This market optimism comes after the US Senate finally agreed on passing the $2 trillion coronavirus bill. The bill, which had been in dispute over the last 2 days due to being blocked by the Democrats, has now been settled with a deal being reached, although the final vote still needs to be made. Although details still need to be agreed upon as well, the gist of the bill is that $250 billion is to go towards directly paying individuals and families, $350 billion on small business loans, and $500 for other companies, amongst others. This is expected to be the largest ever economic stimulus package ever passed.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have also been officially postponed, after several weeks of discussions. While Japan was originally adamant about the Olympics going ahead despite the alarming growth of the coronavirus pandemic, today they were finally forced to postpone the games until 2021. Japan was initially extremely reluctant to make this move, as it would’ve been the first time in the 124 year history of the modern games that they had to be postponed. Olympic officials said that the games would be postponed to a date before Summer 2021, but no later than that, and that the flame would continue to stay in Japan for the time being.


In other news, gold is facing a historic short squeeze, as New York is currently under lockdown. The movement of gold has been severely impeded by the coronavirus, as metal refineries have been forced to close, and all travel has been severely restricted. Normally, in the case of such a shortage in New York, suppliers would ship from overseas locations. But the travel restrictions mean that there is the possibility that the supplies could become trapped, making banks and traders reluctant to do so. Even in other times of economic hardship such as war, gold refineries have not had to close.

The price of gold, which had been on the recovery as well this week, has now fallen again, down 1.8% back towards the $1,600 mark after looking like it would reach $1,650. This move could also be attributed to investors discarding the safe haven asset after the announcement of the $2 trillion stimulus package, as risk appetite improved.