By Chong Koh Ping 

U.S. stock futures edged higher and global equities were mixed Wednesday, the day after a roller-coaster session on Wall Street, amid expectations that the coronavirus pandemic could be stabilizing.

European markets opened in negative territory, with the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 1% lower. Despite 16 hours of talks overnight, European Union finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on a response to the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.6%, with railway operators and airline ANA Holdings among the biggest gainers. Late Tuesday, the government said it plans to pay households and businesses directly as part of a nearly $1 trillion economic package. It could subsequently use stimulus money to encourage consumer spending and travel.

The total death toll in the U.S. from the new coronavirus rose sharply to more than 12,900, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections in the U.S. neared 400,000, more than double the number of any other nation. Globally, the number of confirmed cases rose to more than 1.4 million, while deaths topped 82,000, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

Kelvin Tay, regional chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management in Singapore, said investors are watching closely for when U.S. infections peak and start to decline, and when shutdowns are lifted. In time, he said, investor focus would shift to 2021 corporate earnings, and how quickly economic activity can recover.

Mr. Tay said that since the 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 slipped to 0.717%, from 0.735% Tuesday. Bond yields fall as prices rise. Brent crude, the global gauge of oil prices, rose 1.6% to $32.39.

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 08, 2020 03:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

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