(Bloomberg) – US stocks staged a furious rally in the last trading hour, which cut a rout in half to 4% and left the S&P 500 higher after a tumultuous week dominated by fears that the spread of the coronavirus does not slow global growth. The treasures have jumped.
The S&P 500 slipped 1.7% on Friday and ended the week up 0.6%. Indices have changed in the past five days, as the spreading virus shook investor confidence and prompted central banks and governments to act.
T-bills fell to all-time lows, with 10-year yields falling to 0.66%. The dollar slipped for the sixth time in seven days. Crude oil from West Texas fell 10%, the largest drop in more than five years. An index of derivatives that investors use to hedge against losses has increased the most since at least 2011.
Investors are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration’s preference to forgo fiscal stimulus in favor of pressure on the Federal Reserve for more action will not be enough to support the economy as companies airlines cancel routes and events are delayed nationwide.
“As long as we see cases climb, it will generate market volatility,” said Shawn Cruz, director of merchant strategy at TD Ameritrade, by phone. “What you see is almost a coordinated response to try to counter this decline in sentiment, fear of what the real economic impact will be.”
While concerted efforts by central banks and governments to alleviate the virus boosted equity market gains earlier this week, investors are back to taking risks and piling up the safest and most vulnerable assets. most liquid in the world. The number of coronavirus cases has exceeded 100,000 worldwide, as new infections have been reported in Europe and Iran.
Most markets ignored the latest US employment report, which showed the largest gain in almost two years, as it only reflected conditions before the virus epidemic began to rumble global supply chains and intensify across America.
These are the main movements on the markets:
stocks
- The S&P 500 index fell 1.7% at 4 p.m. New York time.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1%.
- The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.9%.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 3.7%.
- The German DAX index fell 3.4%.
Currencies
- Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index Down 0.3%
- The British pound rose 0.7% to $ 1.3044.
- The euro gained 0.6% to $ 1.1308.
- The Japanese yen strengthened 0.7% to 105.43 per dollar.
Obligations
- The yield on 10-year treasury bills fell 14 basis points to 0.77%.
- The yield on two-year treasury bills fell eight basis points to 0.51%.
- Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.71%.
Raw materials
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 9.6% to $ 41.31 a barrel, the highest level since 2015.
- Brent crude oil stands at 9.4%, the highest since December 2008
- Gold rose 0.4% to $ 1,674.40 an ounce.
– With the help of Jonathan Ferro, Adam Haigh and Constantine Courcoulas.
To contact journalists on this story: Randall Jensen in New York at [email protected]; Vildana Hajric in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at [email protected], Yakob Peterseil
© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.
