Friday 17th April 2020

Many countries have announced extensions to their lockdowns over the last 24 hours. President Trump will be talking shortly, but NAB’s David de Garis expects him to backtrack on his earlier talk of lifting restrictions soon, against the wishes of various State governors. His country is accounting for an increasing proportion of COVID-19 casualties and the unemployment claims numbers overnight were a sobering reminder of the economic impact. Markets, though, have been relatively subdued – perhaps because any bad news was expected.