On April 21, the New York Commercial Futures Exchange (Nymex) delivered the Sett Sasis intermediate base crude oil (WTI) futures in May. The settlement price was $ 37.63 per barrel.It also set a historical record that was closed for the first time. The single -day price plummeted 55.9 US dollars per barrel, a decline of nearly 306%.

This means that the seller will post 37.63 US dollars per barrel to the buyer.This seems incredible, but under the interpretation of the principles of economics, this is completely logical.

This reminds people of the story of capitalists pouring milk into the sea in history.When the transportation cost of milk is greater than the sales price, the milk capitalist is unable to map, and the continued transportation is equivalent to making huge losses. It is better to pour into the sea and return to the sea.

There are similar phenomena in real economic life.One year in the 1990s, the price of garlic moss in a county in East China plummeted. The labor cost of garlic farmers picked garlic moss and transportation costs was much higher than the market sales revenue.Miscended work money, and even make up a little labor money.Because if the garlic moss is removed in time, it will affect the growth of garlic in the later period and cannot obtain the economic benefits of garlic.

At present, there are negative oil prices in crude oil futures, which is not surprising at all.

Due to the dual pressures of the epidemic and economic downturn, under the rivers of oil futures, investors have reduced their holdings to clear their positions, increasing oil storage pressure, buyers sharply decreased, and petroleum storage pressure doubled.The current storage cost has exceeded the oil value itself.

In the first quarter of this year, international crude oil prices plummeted. Brent crude prices fell from $ 68 per barrel in early January to $ 23 per barrel at the end of March.

Recently, crude oil prices have plummeted. On the one hand, the execution of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is low, and the member states are embarrassed and supported on the surface.Cost, so the OPEC+production protocol led by Saudi Arabia console on paper.On the other hand, the price of crude oil at the moment is actually caused by politicians.U.S. President Trump is an active element of fighting war. After all, oil is closely related to the US dollar. International oil is priced in the US dollar and a $ 1.5 trillion US dollar derivative market. A considerable part of it does not come from underground oil.Add value.Russia is not afraid of the depreciation of oil prices. After all, it has a very stable customer like China through land oil pipelines.

However, fundamentally, from the deep level, this crude oil futures have a negative oil price, which is still caused by market panic.

Market panic is more scary than negative oil prices.People will not forget the panic of Wall Street in the 2008 loan crisis.When Wall Street's financial crocodile sub -meal, they did not expect that doom is coming towards them.Following Belsden, one of the five major investment banks in the spring of 2008, panic was entangled with Wall Street financial giants like a devil, and one by one was unable to do it all day.

Negative news sweeps on Wall Street like a whirlwind.As a result, the Lehman Brothers closed down, Merrill Lynch has become a Chinese Bank of America, and the US International Group (AIG) was included in the US government.

Unfortunately, at the time, people could not see the crisis of AIG only limited to the company's book, and its subsidiaries were very good in insurance business.Take a step back, even if AIG has no government rescue, it really embarks on the road of bankruptcy, and its subsidiary can run independently.However, investors have no patience to wait. Under the bombardment of AIG negative news on the Internet, people have lost their market confidence in AIG, causing panic psychology.Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, was also stifled by panic.

In this world, people's hearts are as unpredictable as the world.A short period of negative rumors can be used to enlarge the psychological psychology of panic, and in such a short period of time, a Wall Street investment bank can be defeated.The blood and cruelty of the capital market, the impetuousness and fear of investors are all in it.

Not only are the capital market prone to panic incidents, but also similar phenomena in the business world.This round of oil prices plummeted. The most fundamental thing is that investors have lost hope for the oil market, and panic has triggered a large number of investors to retreat.

Panic is an invisible market killer.In fact, panic is caused by human factors. The panic psychology will artificially create tension air, amplify the negative effects of the market, and block the market channel that can be rescued, so as to fall into the intangible killer of the market.

It is worth noting that the panic of oil prices is passed to coal.According to a report by the securities firm in China on April 22, compared with the negative value of oil prices, China ’s domestic power coal fell less than 16%during the year. After a lapse of four years, it broke through the 500 yuan mark per metric ton after four years, a record low since August 2016.

Therefore, under extreme difficulties, you must see business opportunities from the crisis, and you must not break the jar to break, especially to overcome the panic psychology. Do not lose your determination and mess up.

Call on the international community to overcome panic psychology, especially the G20 of the 20th G20 (G20) to effectively take the largest international group of international groups to control the international economic order, overcome extreme self -interest and trade protectionism, strengthen cooperation in energy, and deal with them together.The emergence of the epidemic and economic crisis in front of you, turning the crisis into a machine, seeing the prospects of cooperation from the haze of economic development.

In the face of huge economic difficulties, the more self -protection is loneliness and fragility.It is impossible for any country to be alone. Only by uniting can we fight a very suspicious economic phenomenon such as the negative oil prices of crude oil.

(The author is a columnist in China Finance Media)