· Intensifying fears of officials having to reinstate lockdown measures around the country saw US indices suffer their biggest daily percentage drop in almost two weeks. Nasdaq, which had registered its fifth record closing high on Tuesday, snapped an eight-day winning streak, which was its longest since December 2019.
· The resurgence in cases led to markets discounting earlier optimism. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 710.16 points, or 2.72%, to 25,445.94, the S&P 500 lost 80.96 points, or 2.59%, to 3,050.33 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 222.20 points, or 2.19%, to 9,909.17.
· The S&P 500 finished the session about 10% under its 19 Feb closing record high while the Dow Jones Industrials was about 14% from its 12 Feb record close. Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index, closed 2.47 points higher at 33.84.
· The United States has recorded the second-largest rise in infections since the health crisis began, with a flare-up of cases in states where restrictions meant to contain the disease were lifted early. The pandemic appeared to be causing wider and deeper damage to economic activity than first thought. The IMF said it now expects global output to shrink by 4.9%, compared with a 3.0% contraction predicted in April. Advanced economies have been particularly hard hit, with US output now expected to shrink 8.0%, more than two percentage points worse than the April forecast.
· The US is taking the trade war transatlantic, weighing new tariffs on US$3.1 billion of exports from France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The news affected European markets as well.
· Asian equities are set to open on a damp note, based on index futures. The data docket is thin for today. The Philippines central bank is expected to hold interest rates unchanged. New Zealand reports trade data and Australia releases figures on job vacancies.
· Markets are closed in China, HK and Taiwan for local holidays.
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