Markets fall from impact of COVID-19, winter could prove “even more difficult”

Markets fell sharply on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 tumbled 3.1 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 plunged 3.4 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 2.0 percent.

Oil prices plunged. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery fell 43.4 percent while Brent fell 24.4 percent.

Ben Powell, chief investment strategist for Asia Pacific at BlackRock Investment Institute, said that “oil will continue to be very challenged” because of “the simple inability for a global energy sector to respond in real time to such an unbelievable collapse in demand in such short order” resulting from economic shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, deaths in the US from COVID-19 topped 45,000 on Tuesday but hopes for a slowdown in the spread has moved states like Georgia and South Carolina to ease restrictions.

Unfortunately, the slowdown may be temporary. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” warned CDC Director Robert Redfield.