Stock-selling pressure eases despite global coronavirus spread - Financial Times

Selling pressure on global stock markets eased on Tuesday despite further evidence of the global spread of the coronavirus and warnings by Italy and Japan on the impact of the outbreak.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 opened 0.4 per cent higher after it dropped 3.4 per cent on Monday, in its biggest slide since trade tensions rattled markets in February 2018.

This helped trim heavy losses in Europe where sentiment swung on a near-hourly basis and the Stoxx Europe 600 fell as much as 1.1 per cent in early trade before the losses were pared to 0.7 per cent.

Stocks in Italy, the hardest hit country in Europe from the coronavirus, fluctuated sharply through the trading day and were down 0.2 per cent by the early afternoon, extending losses this week to 5.5 per cent. London’s FTSE 100 fell to its lowest level since October as it slipped 0.8 per cent.

The firmer tone expected on Wall Street came despite concerns over the wider disruption caused by the coronavirus, including restrictions on how companies operate to the breakdown of some global supply chains.

Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors, said US equities have reversed course because investors increasingly believed the Federal Reserve will step in to shore up the US economy as needed to fend off any negative impact to growth and earnings.

“Investors believe that [the coronavirus] has accelerated the Fed’s willingness to act,” he said. “History proves that central banks will often come in to help support markets at times of stress.”

In fact, the odds of a quarter-point reduction in the US central bank’s main policy rate at its June meeting have nearly doubled in the last month to 47 per cent, according to data compiled by the CME Group.

Japan earlier urged companies to adopt remote working, stagger shifts and hold online meetings to reduce the spread of the illness in the country. An expert government panel said there had been 146 infections confirmed in more than 16 different prefectures, excluding cases from an infected cruise ship and Japanese evacuees from China.

“We are at the crossroads,” Shigeru Omi, head of the Japan Community Health Care Organization, said at a press briefing. “Local transmission is already going on.”

Line chart of % change since end of 2019 showing US and European stocks surrender 2020 gains

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asked companies to adopt the new strategy after his cabinet on Tuesday approved an antivirus plan.

Italy warned that the EU should offer flexibility on its budget targets should the country’s sudden coronavirus outbreak in its industrialised northern regions have a prolonged impact on an economy already teetering on edge of a recession.

On Monday, a seventh Italian died from the virus and the infection count rose to 220. The majority of cases were clustered in the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which together make up a third of output for the eurozone’s third-largest economy and about half of its exports.

Globally, the number of confirmed cases jumped to more than 80,000 on Tuesday, with 2,699 deaths. The Austrian province of Tyrol has confirmed the country’s first cases of coronavirus.

In Iran, health officials said 15 people had died in the country and 95 had tested positive for the disease, the highest number of coronavirus deaths outside of China. The high mortality rate has sparked concerns that Iran is struggling to contain the outbreak and prompted neighbouring countries to impose border restrictions.

Among the infected is Iran’s deputy health minister, the semi-official news agency ILNA reported on Tuesday.

25 February 2020, South Korea, Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in (2nd R) is seen wearing a face mask as he salutes the national flag during a meeting on the updates of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) meeting at the Daegu City Hall. Photo: -/YNA/dpa — South Korean president Moon Jae-in is pictured above (centre) wearing a face mask for a meeting in Seoul © YNA/dpa

The spike in cases in South Korea, where authorities say nine people have died and there have been 893 confirmed infections, prompted officials in Washington and Seoul to consider scaling back joint military exercises. US officials also raised the travel warning to South Korea to its highest level, warning Americans against all but essential travel to the country.