(Bloomberg) — U.S. futures dipped and Treasuries held gains as worries about a surge in virus cases in multiple American states and some other countries sapped appetite for riskier assets.
In Asia, Japanese, Australian and Korean shares were all down more than 1%. China and Hong Kong were shut for holidays. The risk-off moves followed daily records for new cases in Florida and California, with Texas also suffering. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are requiring visitors from virus hot spots to self-quarantine. Australia recorded its largest spike in cases since April. Crude oil prices fell below $38 a barrel in New York. European futures were flat.
Market sentiment is rapidly turning more negative on concern that the spreading coronavirus could force policy makers to slow the pace or reverse business re-openings. At the same time, there’s the potential for trade tensions to resurface between the European Union and the U.S.
“The market really got the shivers over the prospect of a big increase in Covid and maybe starting to see places that were opening up have to close up, pressing the economy and lowering the prospects for the stock market,” Margie Patel, portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management, said on Bloomberg TV. “We’ve had such a great run from the end of March it’s only inevitable that we should get at least a little step back on the way to higher prices over the course of the year.”
The White House is weighing new tariffs on $3.1 billion of exports from France, Germany, Spain and the U.K. The U.S. Trade Representative wants to impose new tariffs on European exports like olives, beer, gin and trucks, while increasing duties on products including aircrafts, cheese and yogurt, according to a notice published late Tuesday evening. The EU is also debating whether to keep the door shut to American travelers this summer.
Elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its outlook for the world economy, projecting a significantly deeper recession and slower recovery than it anticipated just two months ago. Oil retained Wednesday’s losses.
Here are some key events coming up:
U.S. jobless claims, durable goods and GDP data are due Thursday.A rebalance of Russell indexes is due on Friday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
Futures on the S&P 500 dipped 0.5% as of 7:09 a.m. in London. The index fell 2.6% on Wednesday.Japan’s Topix index declined 1.2%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 2.3%.South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.9%.Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed.
Currencies
The yen little changed at 107.18 per dollar.The offshore yuan traded at 7.0822 per dollar.The euro bought $1.1247, little changed.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell about one basis point to 0.67%.Australian 10-year yields fell about four basis points to 0.88%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was down 0.9% at $37.68 a barrel.Gold was at $1,763 an ounce.
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment