By Chris Becker
Fear is back as another packed night of volatility where the WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic, Wall Street lost its shi(r)t, while bond markets went haywire and actually sold off with a big jump in still-depressed yields. The 10 year US Treasury yield went from 0.65% to 0.85% while currency markets were sanguine, the USD rising slightly while the Aussie dollar fell against everything – even Kiwi! The BOE surprised all with an out of cycle big rate cut, sending Pound Sterling to a new two week low while commodities also fell back as oil tripped again and industrial metals fell slightly.
Looking at Asian share markets from yesterday where the Shanghai Composite was travelling well before the long lunch break but gave up its gains going into the close, down some 0.6% to 2980 points, just unable to get back above the 3000 point barrier. Meanwhile the Hang Seng Index is off about the same to close at 25219 points, also unable to get back above a key weekly support level above 26000 points. Futures are indicating a rollover here in line with the risk-off meme and we should be seeing a new weekly low:
