Insanity everywhere

This is a poster from a local Mexican restaurant, which reads 'Day of the Dead', suggesting the danger of drinking Corona beer.

If you love bear, you must know the famous and beloved brand, Corona. But unfortunately, it is facing unexpected hate due to its name that makes people fear of its relation with the coronavirus. This is really a sign of the insanity out there: Americans are avoiding Corona beer amid coronavirus outbreak, survey finds. Excerpt:

Some American beer drinkers are avoiding Corona, the beer, amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, according to a new survey. A surprising 38% of beer drinkers insisted that they would not, under any circumstances, buy Corona as the deadly virus spreads across the globe, according to the survey conducted by 5W Public Relations... In fact, 14% of respondents who said they regularly consume Corona beer admitted in the survey they would not order the beverage in public.

There was also some confusion as 16% of those surveyed said they were not sure whether the virus is related to Corona beer.
According to Art Hogan, former chief market strategist for investment bank B. Riley FBR, on a typical trading day, computers account for 50–60% of market trades. And they can make up to 90% of trades when the markets are extremely volatile – like they are now.
You see, computer programs execute buy and sell orders based on complex algorithms and formulas, without a human involved in the process.

Of course, the market is full of insanity as well these days. The gigantic gyrations over 1000 points day after day have become the new norm. But if you don't know, nowadays about 90% of trading each day is done by computer based on algorithms.  These algorithms scour news feeds and buy and sell based on headlines. Guess what, any positive news now?

Here is just a sampling of what greeted us on the front pages:

• Dow craters more than 2,000 points...
• Stock-market "circuit breaker" triggered...
• Historic flight to bonds...
• Russia fires first shots in oil-price war with Saudi Arabia...
• Crude prices plunge 30%...
• Coronavirus cases outside China triple...
• Italy quarantines 16 million people...
• Eight U.S. states declare state of emergency.

So when headlines are negative, the computers sell. When they're positive, the computers generally buy. And these trades happen in fractions of a second.
Now, if stocks go lower when they sell, the machines are programmed to sell even more – forcing markets down further. But if the markets push back on the pressure and go higher, the machines are programmed to reverse and start buying again.

Below is the picture of those stupendous computers that are driving you crazy if you are dancing with it😎