Categories: Market Overview

Virus-hit stocks shed $3 trillion; safe havens thrive

Stocks resumed their plunge, wiping out more than $3 trillion in value this week alone, and U.S. Treasuries yields hit record lows on Thursday as the coronavirus spread faster outside China and investors fled to safe havens.

The number of new coronavirus infections in China – the source of the outbreak – was for the first time overtaken by fresh cases elsewhere on Wednesday, raising pandemic fears.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index opened 2.3% lower and Italy’s blue-chip index sank. Dozens of European companies have warned about potential damage to their profits.

In the United States, Microsoft became the second trillion-dollar company to warn about its results after Apple. Frankfurt-listed shares were down 4%.

Global equities have now fallen for six straight days. Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge was near its late 2018 highs.

Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,649 per ounce and silver gained 1% to $18.03 an ounce. Gold prices hit a seven-year high at near $1,688 per ounce on Monday.

Meanwhile, the yield on U.S. Treasuries, which falls when prices rise, dropped below 1.3% and the yield curve continued to send recession warnings. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5%, taking it more than 4% lower for the week. Safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc gained on Thursday with the Japanese currency heading towards 110 yen to the dollar, up nearly 2% so far this week. The dollar fell 0.32%.

Virus-hit stocks shed $3 trillion; safe havens thrive, Reuters, Feb 27

The FxPro News Team

This team of professional journalists announces the most interesting and influential articles from the major financial media as a brief summary. All such news may have sufficient potential to affect the course of trading assets.

Share
Published by
The FxPro News Team

Recent Posts

Nasdaq 100 Wave Analysis 23 December 2024

- Nasdaq 100 reversed from strong support level 21000.00 - Likely to rise to resistance…

17 hours ago

USDJPY Wave Analysis 23 December 2024

- USDJPY reversed from key support level 156.35 - Likely to rise to resistance level…

17 hours ago

US indices: has the bullish trend broken?

The recent declines in US indices may have broken the bullish trend, indicated by technical…

22 hours ago

Dollar: Slowing Momentum, Same Direction

The dollar has paused its strengthening, as weaker-than-expected inflation data reduces fear of future Fed…

1 day ago

Bitcoin Fell Back to Local Support

Bitcoin finds support near the 50-day moving average, but further declines in the stock market…

1 day ago

EURCHF Wave Analysis 20 December 2024

- EURCHF falling inside minor impulse wave 5 - Likely to fall to support level…

4 days ago

This website uses cookies