Economic policy bazookas are going off everywhere. On Sunday, the US Federal Reserve went full tilt, slashing the Fed funds rate by 1 percentage point to near zero, having already cut half a percentage point on March 3, plus taken steps to expand its balance sheet by buying bonds, as well as extending short-term credit to banks.

In an emergency meeting on Monday, the Bank of Japan decided to double the amount of money it pours in the Tokyo stock market. In Europe, the German government abandoned its longstanding balanced budget mindset, pledging unlimited cash to businesses hit by the coronavirus. China injected an additional US$78 billion (S$110 billion) into its banking system. Several other countries cut rates. The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial countries vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to hold up the global economy.