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(Bloomberg) — Treasuries surged after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near zero, leading an effort by global central banks to provide liquidity for stressed markets. Global bonds rallied.Just hours after the Fed’s second emergency rate-cut this month, the Bank of Japan announced plans to buy more corporate bonds and commercial paper, while the Reserve Bank of Australia said it stands ready to buy government securities. Still, the premium to borrow dollars in some cross-currency markets continued to rise on Monday.The efforts, coming after a statement on Sunday by major central banks, underscored how the coronavirus pandemic is leading …read more […]

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(Bloomberg) — Emerging-market currencies face further sell-downs of up to 30% if the spreading coronavirus outbreak causes U.S. stocks to slide as much as they did in the global financial crisis, an analysis by Bloomberg shows.The dollar may strengthen a further 30% against the Russian ruble and 23% versus the Chilean peso, according to the study that examines moves in developing-nation currencies to significant sell-downs in S&P 500 Index, and scales those to a 50% loss. In contrast, the U.S. currency is likely to gain only 1% against the Chinese yuan.The analysis shows currencies from countries with current-account deficits and …read more […]

Spot gold was up 0.9% at $1,543.60 per ounce by 0248 GMT, having risen as much as 2.8% earlier. U.S. gold futures rose 1.8% to $1,544.20 per ounce. The Fed slashed rates back to near zero, restarted bond buying and joined with other central banks to help put a floor under a rapidly disintegrating global economy amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic. …read more […]

Mar.15 — Julia Wang, Greater China economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, discusses the state of the world’s second-largest economy and policies. China’s economic activity contracted more than expected in the first two months of 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak. Industrial output fell 13.5% in January and February from a year earlier, retail sales fell 20.5% in the period, and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.2%, the highest on record. Wang speaks with Yvonne Man and David Ingles on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.” …read more […]

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(Bloomberg) — Global financial markets are now in a bottoming phase, and investors should start to add risk and sell the U.S. dollar, according to Morgan Stanley.The tightening of financial conditions has been fast and furious, caused by a slump in stock markets and a widening of credit spreads, strategists including Matthew Hornbach in New York wrote in a report published Friday. However, support measures, mainly by central banks so far, are helping to deliver easing and stabilize the situation, they said.“That’s not to say we’re ‘calling the bottom’ or we’ve seen the lowest prices in risk assets,” the strategists …read more […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he’d choose a woman to be his running mate during Sunday’s Democratic debate with Senator Bernie Sanders. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters …read more […]

Stock markets and the dollar were roiled on Monday after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates in an emergency move and its major peers offered cheap U.S. dollars to break a logjam in global lending markets. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Gold jumped after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point to near zero, sending U.S. equity futures tumbling, and pointing to another volatile week as markets brace for more moves from the world’s central banks.Bullion climbed 3%, before paring gains, as the U.S. central bank moved to cushion the economy from the fallout of the coronavirus. Prices fell the most since 1983 last week as investors rushed to raise cash to cover losses in other markets, while a stronger dollar also curbed the metal’s appeal.The Fed announced several other actions, including letting …read more […]

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Mar.15 — In response to the growing threat from the coronavirus, the Federal Reserve held an emergency meeting and cuts rates to near zero and is pledging to buy assets of at least $700 billion. Fed Chair Jay Powell held a conference call with reporters. (Excerpts from call with reporters.) …read more […]

Las Vegas giant Wynn Resorts is temporarily shutting down its Vegas properties to battle the coronavirus. …read more […]

Officials in Europe and U.S. took dramatic steps to slow a pandemic that’s killed over 6,000 people and sickened scores of others. …read more […]