With its rapid spread in the beginning months of 2020, COVID-19 created havoc for businesses around the world. As major economies went into prolonged lockdowns, which restricted the movement of both goods and people, effects were almost immediately felt in global financial markets as investors pulled out their money from equities and commodities. In such a dire scenario, central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan, were prompted to make off-cycle rate cuts and infuse liquidity to the tune of $9 trillion in an attempt to avert another financial meltdown like that of 2008. But even with this aid, major economies entered into a recession in the second quarter of 2020, and it now remains to be seen how the broader economy and consumer sentiment will recover.
