At a press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump announced an outbreak of the country's emergency coronavirus, allocating about $50 billion to fight the virus.
Trump also instructed the Department of Energy to purchase large volumes of crude oil for the US oil reserve, trying to help American shale producers, who were hit hard by the sharp drop in oil prices.
Large US energy companies have introduced homework rules for office staff and have begun health checks for remote or mission-critical workers as the coronavirus has spread throughout the United States and threatens the industry to stagger due to falling demand and profits.
The fall in demand and the price war, which led to a decrease in oil prices by about 50% this year, placed the industry in a tailspin. Many oil companies have drastically reduced costs and personnel to deal with the crisis.
Working at home will most likely reduce the number of trips by car and aircraft, which will lead to a reduction in oil demand in the US to 2.5 million barrels per day. Throughout the year, this could reduce motor fuel consumption by about 300,000–400,000 barrels per day.
On Saturday, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill to combat coronavirus. The legislative package adopted by voting 363-40 provides free testing, increases sick leave benefits and provides food assistance to vulnerable groups of the population, including children.
It is expected that the Senate will vote positively on this bill and be forcefully implemented starting Monday.
Tonight, the Fed lowered its key interest rate to almost 0-0.25%.
"We expected the FOMC to lower the federal funds rate by 1% to 0.0-0.25% and keep it in this range for a while." - Barclays economists write, including Michael Gapen.
Last week the Federal Reserve intervened with additional liquidity operations to help support markets by offering short-term loans worth $1.5 trillion. The Fed also announced the expansion of its purchases of $60 billion per month, including treasury securities, long bonds, which will lead to a further increase in liquidity in the treasury markets.
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