Global Markets: Stocks drop with spread of virus outside China, gold rises

Global Markets: Stocks drop with spread of virus outside China, gold rises

In international markets, stocks fell as concerns spread of the virus outside of China, while gold and US bonds rose.

Stocks traded in Europe and Asia dropped due to an increase in cases outside of China, after concerns over the effects of coronavirus strengthened, while US index futures moved downwards. US Treasury bills and gold gained value.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined, led by mining and energy shares. While the U.S. 3 core index futures showed a downside opening, their shares lost more than 1 percent in Korea and Hong Kong. US Treasury bills rose, and as a result, interest rates on 10-year Treasury bills fell below 1.5 for the first time since September. Gold rose.

The decreases came along with the slowing economic growth concerns of manufacturing industry data released in Australia and Japan, while the weak South Korean export data currency put pressure on won. The euro strengthened after data indicating that economic activity in the Eurozone was accelerating unexpectedly.

This week, investors went into alert situation, with an increase in the number of cases seen outside of China and warnings about the potential effects of the virus from some major companies on their business. This increased demand for safe haven assets and threatened the rises that allowed global stocks to climb to a record peak earlier this month. Two people evacuated to Australia from the quarantined passenger ship in Japan were found to have coronavirus, and in South Korea the number of cases increased by 1.5 times to 156.

“It might be a long way ahead,” said Dan Farley, chief investment officer of the State Street Global Advisors investment solutions group in Sydney, pointing to the effect of the virus, saying in Bloomberg TV. “It will be a factor that we need to monitor the impact on consumer demand in different sectors.”

On the other hand, crude oil rose in New York, with a sharp rise in exports and a dramatic drop in domestic stocks. The yen appreciated and recovered some of its biggest two-day loss since 2017.

The important events to be followed in the markets are as follows;

* Snow season continues. Deere & Co. It will announce its financials on Friday.
* Inflation data will be released in the Euro Zone on Friday.
* Finance ministers and central bank heads of G-20 countries will meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 22-23. The most important item of the agenda will be efforts to support growth against the coronavirus threat.

Stocks

* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was 0.4 percent lower at 9:22 am London time.
* Standard & Poor’s 500 (S & / P 500) index futures dropped by 0.5 percent.
* Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.6 percent.
* MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.5 percent.

Currencies

* Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.1 percent.
* The euro rose 0.3 percent against the dollar, reaching 1.0815
* The pound gained 0.3 percent against the dollar and reached 1.2918.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3 percent to 111.75 against the dollar.

Bonds

* The interest on US 10-year bonds decreased by 3 basis points to 1.48 percent.
* Germany’s 10-year bonds dropped less than a base point to a minus 0.45 percent.
* UK’s 10-year bonds fell less than a base point to 0.574 percent.

Commodity

* West Texas oil (WTI) fell 1.2 percent to $ 53.23 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.9 percent to $ 1,633.36.

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