As local governments in the state (but not the governor) implement stay-at-home orders to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, Texans are sticking inside, reported Gregory Meyer for The Financial Times. The decline in fuel demand is one factor behind oil cratering to around $20, the other being the ongoing oil-pricing war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. And it’s…

On Monday the price of U.S. crude oil dropped to below $20 a barrel for the first time since 2002. The oil price plummet is due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that’s halted fuel demand and disrupted various sectors of the economy.

Texas voters approved the creation of the rainy day fund in 1988 as an emergency piggy bank to rescue state government in case future leaders faced the sort of oil-and-gas crash that beset the state budget in the 1980s.

An economic cyclone is ripping through Midland and the rest of Texas, the leading oil-producing state in the US. The Covid-19 outbreak has led to government stay-at-home orders that turned busy roads into empty blacktop. The ensuing collapse in fuel demand has halved the value of Texas crude amid an all-out price war between Saudi…

The coronavirus is slamming the U.S. economy, and is likely to hit the Texas economy pretty hard as well. With plunging oil prices and shuttered businesses across the state, the pandemic has threatened two of Texas’ biggest budget sources—oil revenues and sales taxes. State Comptroller Glenn Hegar has already signaled he may revise the budget downward for…