By Chong Koh Ping and Frances Yoon 

Global stocks steadied Thursday after U.S. equities endured their worst start to a new quarter on record, while oil jumped 10% on hopes of an end to the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 1.4%, suggesting the blue-chip index may recover some of its losses when trading gets under way in New York. European stocks ticked higher, pushing the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.4%, after a mixed session for equities in Asia.

Yields on U.S. government bonds fell, in a sign that investors were seeking assets they perceive to be the safest amid continued worries about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world economy. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes slipped to 0.606% from 0.63% Wednesday, according to Tradeweb.

"Investors are once again flocking to the safety of Treasurys," said Colin Low, senior macro analyst at FSMOne.com in Singapore. "The mini-rally seen last week was a typical relief rally that was seen in previous bear markets such as in 2008 and 2000. The economic situation in many markets is going to be uglier, as more data come in."

Brent-crude futures rose 10% to $27.23 a barrel after President Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal to end their battle for market share in the coming days.

Traders are increasingly optimistic that major producers will intervene in the oil market to bolster prices, said DNB Bank analyst Helge Andre Martinsen. However, Mr. Martinsen cautioned that the slump in demand means the oil market will be significantly oversupplied in the coming months regardless of whether producers cut output.

Stock benchmarks in Australia and Japan lost about 1.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite Index traded flat.

Chang Wei Liang, a macro strategist at DBS Bank, said a White House warning late Tuesday that the U.S. could face as many as 240,000 deaths was continuing to fuel demand for safe assets.

"That has really shaken sentiment," said Mr. Chang. "It made people reassess their expectations as to how long this lockdown and social-distancing measures could continue. That's why U.S. Treasurys are rallying."

He said that the Federal Reserve's decision to give international central banks access to dollars had also reduced selling pressure on government debt.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 935,000 people globally and killed more than 47,000 across 180 countries and regions, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death toll in the U.S. surpassed 5,100, as confirmed cases climbed to more than 215,000. The World Health Organization has warned that the number of infected could top one million in a few days.

"Globally, as a whole, the Covid-19 situation is worsening," said Mr. Low at FSMOne.com, referring to the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. "Investors are getting more panicky. They are fully aware that corporate earnings and the global economy will be bad for the first and second quarters. But beyond that, there's no visibility on how these numbers will look like in the third and fourth quarter because of the fluidity of the Covid situation," he said.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.4% on its worst-ever first day of a quarter. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both lost 4.4% as well. All three indexes have lost at least one-quarter of their value since closing at record highs in February.

Write to Chong Koh Ping at chong.kohping@wsj.com and Frances Yoon at frances.yoon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2020 04:12 ET (08:12 GMT)

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