Today's trading lacked the sizzling action of previous weeks, although that's likely a welcome change. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.1%, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 1.2%, and the price of oil (Brent crude, to be precise) added 2.4% after a wild week, closing down 22% from last Friday.

Today's trading saw a lift in global equity markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average increasing by over 500 points and the S&P/TSX Composit closing up 2.4%. The real story, of course, was oil, which rebounded sharply, with the price of WTI closing up 20%.

Today's headlines were dominated by a paradoxical piece of news: the price of oil has gone negative, briefly reaching -$37/barrel USD. But what does that actually mean? How is the price of oil measured? Can I buy all the oil in the world and lock in an enormous profit? What does this mean for the economy, in the near, intermediate, and long term? And why does this all revolve around Cushing, Oklahoma?

Today was a quiet day in the markets, and the first double (not triple) digit move in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in weeks. Today's trading followed the release of US initial jobless claims data, which indicated that 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment last week.

The Bank of Canada last published a Monetary Policy Report on January 22nd. Although it came out just 84 days ago, it reads like a parchment scroll from antiquity. It does not include the words "COVID," "virus," or "outbreak." It predicts that growth in the Canadian economy will accelerate in 2020. To say the least, it was due for an update.