US equity futures fell on Thursday as fluctuations in the coronavirus around world markets continued despite the potential economic fallout from the epidemic.
Futures on Dow fell 500 points, while Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 1.9%.
The declines come a day after the Dow Jones industry average rose nearly 1,200 points, a flip-flop after losing nearly 800 points on Monday. Health care stocks surged Tuesday after former Vice President Joe Biden solidified his status as a Democratic presidential nomination candidate. Investors consider him to be more business-friendly than Senator Bernie Sanders.
Concerns about the coronavirus disrupting global economic growth continued to weigh on investors this week as countries around the world have extended travel restrictions. Investors expect other central banks to follow the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Tuesday in hopes of protecting the economy from the economic fallout of the new coronavirus.
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“We expect the markets to remain volatile,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. the current global political response cannot immediately be judged sufficient or insufficient to restore investor confidence in the short term. “
Bond investors continued to crowd into safe haven assets such as US government bonds. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 0.97% from 0.99% on Wednesday.
Global benchmarks rose in almost all markets overnight. The French CAC 40 increased by 0.5%, while the German DAX increased by almost 0.6%. The British FTSE 100 increased 0.2% to 6,830.92.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 benchmark rose 1.1%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.1%, while the Shanghai Composite jumped 2.0%.
Contributor: The Associated Press.