Sentiment also points to a lower low for the U.S. market. That’s because the usual pattern is for the final bear-market bottom to be accompanied by thoroughgoing pessimism and despair. That’s not what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks. In fact, just the opposite is evident — eagerness to declare that the worst is now behind us.
Another way of putting this: When the bear market does finally hit its low, you are unlikely to even be asking whether the bear has breathed his last. You’re more likely at that point to have given up on equities altogether, throwing in the towel and cautioning anyone who would listen that any rally attempt is nothing but a bear-market trap to lure gullible bulls.
WASHINGTON—The Senate approved the largest economic stimulus package in recent memory, moving the estimated $2 trillion bill to the House as Congress seeks to give American families and businesses a financial shield against the ravages of the new coronavirus pandemic.
Senators approved the legislation after round-the-clock negotiations between the Trump administration and leading senators. Following precipitous declines, investors in the past two days have sent U.S. stocks soaring in anticipation of the bill’s passage. President Trump has said he would sign it immediately.
Health experts say other countries short of testing kits can also learn from Wuhan’s experience. Unable to test thousands of suspected cases, on Feb. 4, health authorities allowed doctors to use chest scans to make coronavirus diagnoses in Hubei.
That resulted in a spike in confirmed cases, stunning the outside world. By Feb. 19, however, the number of newly confirmed cases in Wuhan had dropped into the hundreds and by March 11, it was down to single digits. The number of deaths has declined steadily since Feb. 18.
A recent study led by doctors at Wuhan’s Tongji Medical College estimated that the reproduction number of the virus—the average number of people infected by each infected person—was about 3.68 in Wuhan before the lockdown began on Jan. 23.
That number, which has to be reduced to below one to stop an epidemic, dropped to 0.32 between Feb. 2 and 18, the study found.
中国和俄罗斯的进步促使五角大楼断定,美国正在进入一个大国冲突的新时代。2017年,美国国防部网络评估办公室(Office of Net Assessment)和兰德公司(Rand Corp.)准备了一份有关美国军队将如何与对手较量的发人深省的评估报告,并提交给上任不久的时任美国国防部部长马蒂斯(Jim Mattis)。兰德公司是一家为政府进行机密分析的研究中心。