The Evening: Stock Market, Afghan Blast, One Way Out and More

March 9, 2020

Coronavirus

All of Italy’s 60 million people are coming under restrictions that had applied to only the northern part of the country. And, as the NYT reports , the death toll in the United States hit 26.

Dive Deeper: Listen to the latest episode of the "Coronavirus Crisis Update: An Act of Desperation" to learn more about Italy's quarantine decision.

Oil Prices Collapse

U.S. stocks careened lower Monday, with major indexes swinging perilously close to the first bear market in more than a decade as a price war for oil and fallout from the coronavirus frightened investors, as the WSJ’s Paul Vigna, Avantika Chilkoti and David Winning report.

And, oil prices recorded their biggest one-day crash since the first Gulf War in 1991 on Monday, tumbling as traders bet that a clash between oil giants Saudi Arabia and Russia could flood a world already hobbled by the coronavirus outbreak with a glut of crude, as the WSJ’s David Hodari reports.

Dive Deeper: “Oil Price War,” by CSIS’s Sarah Ladislaw.

Blasts Disrupt Afghan Inauguration

An attack disrupted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's inauguration Monday amid a deepening political crisis that threatens to undermine the future of peace talks with the Taliban, even as U.S. troops began to leave the country, as the Washington Post’s Susannah George and Sharif Hassan report.

CSIS Executive Education

We invite you to apply or nominate a high-potential employee for the 2020 CSIS Accelerator Series, a training program designed to help young professionals refine their strengths in leadership, management, communication, and a range of professional skills required in today's competitive work environment.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

7%

Five minutes into the trading day in the United States, the plunge in the S&P 500 hit 7 percent, setting off an automatic trading halt for 15 minutes.

Source: NYT

Critical Quote

“Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

China has maintained a militia presence around Philippine-occupied Thitu Island for over 450 days and counting.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.

Optics

(Photo credit: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images). Trading on Wall Street was temporarily halted early today as U.S. stocks joined a global rout on crashing oil prices and mounting worries over the coronavirus.

Recommended Reading

“We Predicted a Coronavirus Pandemic. Here’s What Policymakers Could Have Seen Coming,” by CSIS’s Kathleen Hicks and Samuel Brannen for Politico.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:30 a.m., CSIS’s Future of Venezuela Initiative and Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative will host a discussion on how girls and women have been disproportionately affected by the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

Later, at 12:30 p.m. , the Center for Global Development will host Branko Milanovic for a discussion on his new book Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System that Rules the World.

Video

In a new video, CSIS’s China Power Project experts break down the convergences between the United States’ Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) and highlight ways for Washington and Taipei to jointly promote peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. Watch PreView: Charting Convergence here.

Podcasts

Steve and I sit down with CSIS Europe Program director Heather Conley to discuss the quarantine of 16 million people in northern Italy; how it came about, what it will mean for Italy’s economy and politics, and how Italy’s neighbors are responding.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

No one made me smile as much as Tommy. There are certain people who just go by one name because they’re so famous. In Washington, if you are of a certain age and know the political scene, the name “Tommy” is as big as it gets. You see, in a town of institutions and larger than life people, Tommy Jacomo, the great front-man of The Palm, seemed like he was the biggest of them all. Because Tommy made everyone smile. He knew everyone and everyone loved him. It didn’t matter if you were George H.W. Bush, Bob Strauss, Vernon Jordan or a dentist from Potomac, Tommy took an interest in who you were and he made it his business to make you feel like you were part of his club.

Tommy made the Palm a special place from 1972 when it opened until 2016 when he handed over the reins to his protégé Michael Melore, an incredibly talented front-man himself. So when I walked into the Palm on Saturday night and Michael told me that Tommy had just passed away at 75 my heart broke. But then I just smiled. Tommy would have wanted it that way because he was the coolest. I was at the Palm on a Saturday night with my wife and kids and our best friends—what could be better? This one’s for you, Tommy.