Finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 have pledged to “use all appropriate policy tools” to soften the economic impact of the coronavirus but stopped short of announcing immediate action following a call on Tuesday.  The call, led by US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, included finance ministers from the G7 group of countries and central bankers like Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England.  Earlier, Australia’s central bank cut interest rates to a record low, prompting Donald Trump to take to Twitter and urge the Federal Reserve to follow suit and cut interest rates in the US. “Should ease and cut rate big,” the president said in a tweet. (FT)
 
The strongest day in more than a decade immediately followed the worst week since the financial crisis (talk about volatility). The Dow surged over 5% on Monday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each jumped more than 4%, boosted by expectations of central bank firepower to battle the economic impacts of the coronavirus. Traders are now pricing in a 100% chance of a 50-basis point rate cut at the Fed's March meeting according to Fed Funds futures. (SA)
 
While talks broke off late last year, Thermo Fisher Scientific = is acquiring Dutch molecular testing firm Qiagen for €10.4B, including assumed debt. It's the second major transaction in the healthcare sector this week after Gilead Sciences agreed to buy Forty-Seven for $5bn to advance into cancer treatments. (Bloomberg)
 
With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Josh Fenili.