By Chris Becker
Before the European session yesterday, a wave of fear gripped markets as the IMF forecasts and then later, US economic data pointed to a bigger contraction than expected due to the coronavirus. US retail sales for March were the worst drop on record, with the USD spiking against all the majors save gold which remains elevated above the $1700USD per ounce level. Oil dropped again, falling more than 6% and almost making new lows, pulling Wall Street down with it.
Looking at Asian share markets yesterday, where the Shanghai Composite fell sharply at the close, finishing 0.5% lower to 2811 points while the Hang Seng Index has taken back most of its prior gains, down 0.8% to 24247 points, as its nascent breakout pauses (or runs out of steam). This breakout was getting interesting with growing support at the 23000 point level but appears to be stalling out as momentum is not yet positive:
