Japan's Nikkei 225 (N225) led declines among Asia's main indexes, closing down 2.7%. South Korea's Kospi (KOSPI) fell 2.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) dropped 2.3%, and China's Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) declined 1.2%.
In Europe, London's FTSE100 (UKX) was trading 2.8% lower on Friday morning. Germany's DAX (DAX) was down 3.4% and France's CAC40 (CAC40) was 3.6% weaker.
As Asian and European markets fell Friday, so did US stock futures. Dow futures were last down 493 points or 1.8%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite (COMP) futures fell roughly 2% each.
Wild market swings over the past few days indicate how nervous investors are about the unfolding outbreak. There are now nearly 98,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, and almost 3,400 deaths. South Korea, Italy, Japan and Iran have become hotspots, recording the most cases outside of mainland China. And the rate of infection continues to climb in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Oil prices continued their downward slide, despite plans unveiled Thursday by OPEC to slash the supply of crude oil to world markets by 1.5 million barrels a day, assuming Russia agrees at a meeting in Vienna on Friday. Those supply curbs would come on top of existing cuts by the cartel and Russia of 2.1 million barrels per day.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, were down nearly 3% at $48.61 a barrel.
Investors, meanwhile, are still plowing their money into safe haven assets as fears take hold. Gold continued its upward march, adding to gains on Thursday to trade 1% higher at $1,688 an ounce on Friday. And the 10-year Treasury yield sank below 0.7%, a new all-time low.
Friday's losses in Asia and Europe followed a nearly 1,000-point drop for the Dow (INDU) overnight. The steep declines came after the index recorded two 1,000-point gains and an 800-point loss earlier this week.
The S&P 500 (SPX), meanwhile, fell 3.4% The benchmark is down 6.4% for the year.
"Markets have shifted from pricing temporary China weakness to a more protracted global event, which will see a good chunk of global GDP go up in smoke," wrote Stephen Innes, chief market strategist at AxiCorp, in a Friday research note.
Recovery delayed
On Friday, S&P Global Ratings said it downgraded its economic outlook for Asia Pacific, saying the coronavirus could wipe $211 billion from household, corporate and government incomes and slow economic growth in the region to 4% for the year. The ratings agency had earlier forecast growth of 4.8%.
"Our U-shaped recovery has been pushed back to later in 2020 due to a harder hit to China's economy in the first quarter, viral transmission outside China, and tighter financial conditions," the S&P economists wrote, referring to a slower return to normal than the fast V-shaped recovery that some economists had hoped for last month.
The ratings agency also forecast that China's economy will likely grow by just 4.8%, and said growth could slump even more if infections spike as people return to work and governments reintroduce restrictions on activity.
The growing global outbreak will deliver shocks to Japan and South Korea's domestic supply and demand, they said, adding that it will also result in weaker demand from the United States and Europe.
Innes, of AxiCorp, noted that some industries are expecting steep losses as the outbreak rages on.
Global airlines stand to lose $113 billion in sales if the coronavirus continues to spread, according to the latest assessment from the International Air Transport Association. Just two weeks ago, IATA had been expecting lost sales in the range of $30 billion.
Starbucks, meanwhile, said it expects a 50% decline in sales at stores in China during the January-March quarter.
— Laura He contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/investing/asian-market-latest/index.html
2020-03-06 11:15:00Z
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