Global Stocks Decline Modestly
April 07 2020 - 11:56PM
Dow Jones News
By Chong Koh Ping
Global stocks fell slightly Wednesday after a roller-coaster
trading session in the U.S. amid expectations that the coronavirus
pandemic could be stabilizing.
By late morning in Hong Kong, stock benchmarks in Australia,
Hong Kong and Shanghai had fallen less 0.7%, while Tokyo's Nikkei
225 had inched up about 0.5%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%.
"The markets are trading to the infection curve in the U.S.,"
said Kelvin Tay, regional chief investment officer at UBS Global
Wealth Management in Singapore. Investors are watching closely for
when infections peak and start to decline, he said, and when
shutdowns are lifted. In time, he said, investor focus would shift
to 2021 corporate earnings, and how quickly economic activity can
recover.
On Tuesday, the total death toll in the U.S. from the new
coronavirus rose sharply to more than 12,800, according to data
compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections in the
U.S. were more than double that of any other nation, exceeding
398,000, with recoveries at 22,083. Globally, the number of
confirmed cases rose to more than 1.4 million, while deaths topped
82,000, according to the Johns Hopkins data.
Mr. Tay said that since the U.S. Federal Reserve last month made
use of a range of tools--adopting "the entire playbook" it
developed during the 2008 global financial crisis--in quick
succession, market functioning has improved: "The markets have
exited the panic-selling mode."
As well as slashing interest rates, the central bank announced
other aggressive measures in March, pledging to buy government
bonds, corporate-bond funds and municipal debt. It has boosted the
short-term cash markets and even arranged to lend directly to
companies.The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note held steady
at 0.715%. Bond yields fall as prices rise. Brent crude, the global
gauge of crude-oil prices, rose 2.6% to $32.69.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% and the
S&P 500 lost 0.2%. During the session, however, the Dow gained
and lost more than 4%, its steepest intraday reversal in more than
a decade.
Write to Chong Koh Ping at chong.kohping@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2020 23:41 ET (03:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.