ANTHONY CLARK: Keeping an eye on arbs
As countries close and markets burn, studying arbitrages may present opportunities
Well, what a difference 30 days can make. The bloodbath in global financial markets on the spread, economic and social impact of Covid-19 has collapsed global stock markets and brought entire countries to an unprecedented standstill.Having covered markets for nearly 40 years as an analyst and commentator, I have become used to periods of volatility. But I’ve never seen anything as savage as the recent sell-off.I was in the viewing gallery of the JSE in October 1987 when the first major meltdown of the modern era hit stock markets.In 1998 the world felt the Russian financial crisis hit markets and in 2000 the Nasdaq tech bubble burst, sending the index plunging by 70% in a year.In 2008 the Lehman Brothers contagion triggered a financial calamity, leading to recession.Now we have the Covid-19 pandemic causing panic in global financial markets, industrial economies and social systems.What is different this time is that economies, in previous calamities, kept working. The commerce of e...
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