Last weekend, the cartel that controls global oil production met to discuss cutting production in light of the global dip in demand. Those negotiations failed, and now Saudi Arabia and Russia (the two largest producers of oil outside of the United States) are instead engaging in a "price war," ramping up production to their highest levels ever. The effect on the price of oil, already brought down by the lack of demand, was dramatic:

As you are probably aware, Argentine currency controls are still presenting obstacles for businesses who need to send money into or out of the country. Global market volatility is making this need more urgent for most investors, who need to act decisively in these uncertain times.

The last few weeks have been a time of severe market volatility and we understand that this is a concern to our clients. Most importantly for our cash management clients, the Bank of Canada announced a 50 basis point cut to its overnight rate target, following the Federal Reserve's emergency meeting to lower its target range.

This morning, the Bank of Canada (BoC) announced a 50 basis point cut to the overnight rate target, the benchmark rate that all Canadian fixed-income is measured against. This leaves the overnight target rate at 1.25%, down from its previous level of 1.75%.

This morning, the US Federal Reserve held its first emergency meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) since 2008 and announced a 50 basis point cut to its main policy rate. This cut, which brought the target range from 1.50-1.75% to 1.00-1.25%, was in response to the turmoil in global markets observed over the last week and the obvious slowdown in economic activity caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

With this week's losses in global equity markets, we're seeing the yields on long-term bonds fall to record lows. As investors flee equity markets, the price of low-risk assets like long-term US and Canada bonds gets pushed upwards, and yields correspondingly fall.