“Beware the ides of March,” a soothsayer told Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s famous play of the same name. Whether you believe in superstitions or not, March of 2020 will go down as a historic month on Wall Street. After peaking on February 19th, the S&P 500 fell 34% in just 23 trading days, marking the fastest bear market ever.
Foundations and endowments are taking a cautious approach to the markets and when to capitalize on upcoming investment opportunities the coronavirus pandemic will provide long-term investors.
There is no doubt we are in one of the most turbulent and challenging times in American, and world, history. The coronavirus is dramatically changing everything: Our personal lives, economic markets, and, of course, higher-education institutions are being transformed before our eyes.
Credit-ratings firms have issued a wave of downgrades for corporate and government bonds as they reassess the ability of borrowers to repay their obligations amid the coronavirus slowdown.
As Inside Philanthropy wrote just a few days ago, community foundations and local funders around the country have been scrambling to respond as COVID-19 shuts down one aspect of society after another.
The outlook for higher education institutions is shifting to negative from stable as a result of the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a recent outlook from Moody’s Investors Service.
The Treasury Department wants to use a crisis-era tool to support money-market funds, joining the Federal Reserve in the fight to keep financial markets working smoothly.