- The oil market is plummeting right now,

that after Russia andSaudi Arabia failed to come

to an agreement to propup prices over concerns

that the coronavirus ishurting the global economy.

Bloomberg reports that RussianPresident Vladimir Putin

has pulled out of his coalition with OPEC

because he's angry withthe Trump administration

for using energy as apolitical and economic weapon

including US sanctions thathurt Russian oil projects.

Russia's coalition withOPEC also helps America's

shale oil industry andRussia's move to pull out

will hurt that industry.

Prices for US oil, westTexas crude falling

nearly 25% today to $31.50.

And joining us now is theNational Radio and TV host

of Financial Issues, Dan Celia.

Dan, thanks for joining us.

Stocks fell so sharply injust the first four minutes

today that the marketautomatically stopped trading

for 15 minutes and stockshave fallen almost 20%

from their highs.

What is your take on what WallStreet is thinking right now?

- Well, Wall Street is doing what they do

and they watch sellers.

And people are selling,people are in a panic.

Obviously the oil markets taking, it has,

it's playing a huge, huge part in this.

I think it's more rightnow the focus on oil

than it is the coronavirus.

Both of these things, in my opinion,

are what we would call black swan events

that were totally out of the blue.

They came out of nowhere,there was no analytics

that was gonna predicteither one of these.

One more of a geopoliticalevent, one obviously an unknown

of this virus so it is impacting markets.

The problem with the oil prices, Heather,

is that will create a muchgreater impact on the economy.

The coronavirus is certainlyhurting the economy now

as we're seeing with tourism and such,

and some of the travelindustry, but is it gonna do,

or not likely would do thedamage that an oil crisis might.

So that is a huge, hugeissue and that's something

we've gotta watch very closely

and that is what's pulling this down.

If the oil stocks continueto drop as a result

of a larger glut in oil globally,

then that is gonna hurtthe financial sector

at some point in time.

And the financial sectoris the largest piece

of our economy and we've gotta be

extremely concerned about that.

- Right, it's all movingso fast right now.

I wanna ask you, justpractically speaking,

you had told us, Ibelieve it was last week,

that long term investors will be fine.

What is your advice topeople who are watching

their portfolios right now?

- Yeah, I haven't changed that, Heather.

I believe that both ofthese events are transitory.

I think they're both temporary events.

Yes, the virus could gountil even September if,

that would be unfortunate, but it could.

I think the oil market hasgotta get straightened out

fairly quick because VladimirPutin, this is hurting them

far more than it's gonna hurt us.

They are already in a freefall in their economy,

they've been in a badway in their economy.

All they have is oil, it'stheir number one export.

They need it desperately,they need desperately

at least $60, $70 a barreland this is gonna really

hurt their economy.

This has to be short lived

unless they just wannago into a depression.

- All right, and we justhave about 30 seconds left,

but Bloomberg is reportingthe Trump administration

is working on measuresto blunt the fallout,

it could include a temporaryexpansion of paid sick leave,

possible help forcompanies facing disruption

from the outbreak, wouldthat make a difference?

- Yeah, it would make a difference.

It's gonna hurt, now it'sbeginning to hurt the economy

in a bigger way.

That will make a huge difference'cause it's gonna hurt

productivity, imports, exports, travel,

it's gonna hurt acrossa much broader sector

of the economy, not just the markets.

- All right, well we are out of time,

but Dan Celia, thanks for your insights,

we really appreciate it.

- You're welcome.