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Stranger Than Fiction
A brief daily note of things you might find interesting or useful
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TOP NEWS
Oil prices triggered a global decline in markets on Monday, led by a energy price war between the Saudi and Russian governments. London and Frankfurt were down 8 percent. Paris and other European exchanges traded near the same lows.v
The U.S. futures market was halted last night when it declined to its limit of 5%. . The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped below 0.5% for the first time ever, while the 30-year rate breached 1%.
Coronavirus cases and deaths surged in Italy, where a lockdown was put into place in the northern region of the country. Cases tripled from about 2,500 infections on Wednesday to more than 7,375 on Sunday. Deaths rose to 366.
Three U.S. states now have more than 100 coronavirus patients each as the number of cases in the United States tops 500.
In China, the spread of the virus has slowed considerably. New infections dropped into double digits on Friday for the first time since figures began coming out in January.
Congress members who attended CPAC, the annual conservative gathering, may have been exposed to coronavirus, as two attendees have tested positive since. Ted Cruz is among those who have announced he will be working remotely.
THE ELECTION
THE COMMENT
“It’s getting hard not to see Biden winning here, and by a comfortable margin,” said Adrian Hemond, a veteran Democratic strategist who is neutral in the primary. “He’s got a huge base of support in the black community, and while maybe he doesn’t appeal to the non-college-educated whites like Trump does, he’s not toxic to them like Hillary was. Bernie’s only real advantage is with young voters, and they don’t turn out anyway.”
THE STRANGEST
THE AV ROOM