SoDATA — On March 16, Forbes reported on a private Goldman Sachs Coronavirus meeting “that’s setting the Internet on fire”. The meeting held a week earlier (on Thursday) was meant to reassure Sachs’ nervous merchant banking clients on the crisis.
The report says someone on the call took notes then leaked them. Key point to note was “It feels more like 9/11 than it does like 2008 as there is “NO systematic risk to the world’s financial system”.
“Governments are intervening in the markets to stabilize them, and the private banking sector is very well capitalized”.
The note points out that the virus “appears to be concentrated in a band between 30-50 degrees north latitude”. In East Asia (Asia-Pacific), 38° N latitude is popularly named 38th parallel as the the onset of the Cold War led to the establishment of a separate U.S.-oriented regime in South Korea and a communist regime in North Korea under Kim Il-sung
The leaked conversation note seems to downplay the coronavirus’ effects on the world economy, said Forbes.
The report points out that note China’s economy has been largely impacted which has affected raw materials and global supply chain. It may take up to six months for it to recover, it said.
The conversation has since gone viral on social media and through messaging services like WhatsApp—leaving the bank to now downplay the comments made in that meeting, said the report.
Here are other talking points of the full comments from the Goldman call circulating on the web as reported:
A) Mortality rate of up to 2%, heavily weighs towards the elderly and immunocompromised; meaning up to 3m (150m x 2%) people…it means elderly people dying sooner due to respiratory issues.
B) There will be economic damage from the virus itself, but the real damage is driven mostly by market psychology.
C) Stock markets can fully recover in the second half of 2020.
D) Global GDP growth rate will be the lowest in 30 years at around 2%.
