Stock markets in Asia and Europe steadied on Monday following last week’s heavy sell-off, while US Treasury yields hovered around record lows, as investors pinned their hopes on central banks setting out measures aimed at cushioning the economic hit from the coronavirus outbreak.
An early rally in European equities fizzled in mid-morning trade, with the continent-wide Stoxx 600 flatlining. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9 per cent and Frankfurt’s Dax dropped 0.5 per cent.
That followed a broadly positive session in Asia, where China’s CSI 300 of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks closed up 3.3 per cent, chalking up its best one-day performance since May. Futures trade suggested no movement on the S&P 500 when Wall Street opens.
The mixed picture came as investors weighed the prospect of central bank easing against an increasingly bleak economic picture emerging from China and beyond.
The Bank of Japan followed the US Federal Reserve with a vow to fight the coronavirus. BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday promised to inject liquidity into markets and hinted at raising asset purchases.
But optimism around the prospect of co-ordinated international action to fight the disease was tempered as the OECD warned global growth could halve this year from its previous forecast and by Chinese manufacturing data that showed factory activity in February plunging to an all-time low.
“On the back of pledges of central bank support, equity markets have recovered this morning,” said Neil MacKinnon at VTB Capital. “The big question is whether the recovery is a ‘dead cat bounce’, to use the market jargon, or whether there is scope for fresh equity market declines.”
Brent crude was initially buoyed, with the international oil marker adding almost 3 per cent, before dropping back to trade up 1.3 per cent at $50.33 a barrel.
The yield on 10-year US Treasuries was down about 6 basis points — having fallen as much as 11 points to a record 1.0347 per cent in earlier trade. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
After the S&P 500 last week dropped 11 per cent, marking the Wall Street benchmark’s worst week since the global financial crisis, investors are betting that central banks will step in to try and mitigate the crisis that is threatening global economic growth.
Based on trading of Fed funds futures, investors think it is almost certain that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates when it meets this month. Chairman Jay Powell has said the US central bank is “closely monitoring” developments.
Governments are taking action to support their economies during the virus outbreak. Italy said it would inject €3.6bn into its economy to mitigate the impact.
Analysts at Rabobank said that, regardless of the extent of the policy response, debt would remain an attractive investment option for investors, saying it was “a discernible near-term possibility” that the yield on the US 10-year could drop below 1 per cent.
“While the path for risky assets will be determined by the degree of activism on the part of global policymakers and an associated financially repressive impulse, the outlook for safe havens is unequivocally positive as either aggressive rate cuts provide support or a perceived insufficient policy response underpins a flight-to-quality bid,” they said.
Ken Cheung, chief Asia currency strategist at Mizuho, said traders were betting that a wave of fiscal stimulus by Beijing could soften the blow to the world’s second-biggest economy from the coronavirus.
“Optimism over a China growth recovery in March is being fuelled by the slowing pace of virus contagion and expectation for China’s strong stimulus,” he said.
Stock markets in Asia and Europe steadied on Monday following last week’s heavy sell-off, while US Treasury yields hovered around record lows, as investors pinned their hopes on central banks unleashing measures aimed at cushioning the economic hit from the coronavirus outbreak.
In Asian trade, China’s CSI 300 of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks closed up 3.3 per cent, chalking up its best one-day performance since May. Japan’s Topix climbed 1 per cent.
An early rally in European equities fizzled in mid-morning trade, with the continent-wide Stoxx 600 adding 0.2 per cent. In London, the FTSE 100 was 1 per cent higher, while Frankfurt’s Dax dropped 0.4 per cent.
The gains came after the Bank of Japan signalled it would inject liquidity into the financial system and hinted at increased asset purchases. The central bank “will closely monitor future developments, and will strive to provide ample liquidity and ensure stability in financial markets through appropriate market operations and asset purchases”, Haruhiko Kuroda, BoJ governor, said in a statement.
The brighter mood buoyed crude oil, with the price of Brent, the international marker, climbing 2.6 per cent to $50.95 a barrel.
Equities had initially sold off across Asia after China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index at the weekend showed factory activity in February plunging to an all-time low.
The yield on 10-year US Treasuries was down about 3 basis points — having fallen as much as 11 points to a record 1.0347 per cent in earlier trade. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
After the S&P 500 last week dropped 11 per cent, marking the Wall Street benchmark’s worst week since the global financial crisis, investors are betting that central banks will step in to try and mitigate the crisis that is threatening global economic growth.
Based on trading of Fed funds futures, investors think it is almost certain that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates when it meets this month. Chairman Jay Powell has said the US central bank is “closely monitoring” developments.
Governments are taking action to support their economies during the virus outbreak. Italy said it would inject €3.6bn into its economy to mitigate the impact.
Goldman analysts wrote on Sunday that they were forecasting rate cuts of varying magnitudes by central banks from the UK, Canada and Australia to India and South Korea. They now project the Fed will cut rates by 0.5 percentage points in March and another 0.5 percentage points in the second quarter.
Analysts at Rabobank said that regardless of the extent of the policy response, debt would remain an attractive investment option for investors, saying it was “a discernible near-term possibility” that the yield on the US 10-year could drop below 1 per cent.
“While the path for risky assets will be determined by the degree of activism on the part of global policymakers and an associated financially repressive impulse, the outlook for safe havens is unequivocally positive as either aggressive rate cuts provide support or a perceived insufficient policy response underpins a flight-to-quality bid,” they said.
China’s onshore-traded renminbi strengthened to 6.9566 per US dollar after the central bank set the midpoint of the currency’s trading band to below seven for the first time in more than a week.
Ken Cheung, chief Asia currency strategist at Mizuho, said traders were betting that a wave of fiscal stimulus by Beijing could soften the blow to the world’s second-biggest economy from the coronavirus.
“Optimism over a China growth recovery in March is being fuelled by the slowing pace of virus contagion and expectation for China’s strong stimulus,” he said.
‘Fear Factor’ Is Running High as Currency Markets Resume Trading Bloomberg
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Stocks plunged last week and entered a correction amid escalating fears of the coronavirus‘ spread and the damage it could inflict on the global economy. When all was said and done, the S&P 500 had suffered its worst week since the financial crisis – October 2008 to be exact.
The drubbing erased more than $6 trillion in market value in just five days, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices senior analyst Howard Silverblatt.
The sell-off was fueled by concerns that efforts to contain the virus could stymie economic growth and cut corporate profits. The coronavirus has spread to over 55 countries beyond its point of origin in China, infecting over 83,000 people around the world.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 posted its fastest correction – defined as a 10% drop from its recent peak – since the Great Depression.
But it won’t immediately impact their day-to-day existences.
„For most Americans, it’s a side show in their economic lives,“ Jacob Hacker, director of the Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, told USA Today about the stock market. „What really matters to them is the security of their jobs and health care, and the amount they have to pay for big-ticket items like housing and education.“
Here are three charts illustrating why the stock market bears little short-term impact on most people.
Most Americans simply don’t invest in stocks.
Foto: Source: Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Federal Reserve
The chart above shows the share of Americans in each part of the wealth distribution who directly own stocks.
Data from the Federal Reserve shows that only 8% in the bottom half of household net worth own stock shares. That’s compared to 89% in the upper half of the distribution.
Just over half – 51% – are in the wealthiest 10% of US households.
That trend locks out a substantial share of Americans from reaping the benefits of a booming market – or the effects of one that plummets.
The amount and value of stock holdings skews heavily towards the richest Americans.
Foto: Source: Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Federal Reserve
The average family among the top 10% of US households who own stock tend to have portfolios worth $200,000 and above, according to the Federal Reserve – at least 60x more than the bottom half of the wealth distribution.
As a result, stock losses would hit those with much higher incomes initially.
Less than half of Americans in the bottom half of the wealth distribution had money invested into retirement accounts.
Foto: Source: Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Federal Reserve
Under half of Americans in the bottom half of the wealth distribution had money invested into retirement accounts, which includes IRAs, 401(k)s or similar.
In 2017, the US Census Bureau reported only a third of workers contributed to a 401(k) plan.
Of course, the recent stock market losses puts a dent in their savings.
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: Copyright 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc.2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.
LOS ANGELES — Joe Coulombe envisioned a new generation of young grocery shoppers emerging in the 1960s, one that wanted healthy, tasty, high-quality food they couldn’t find in most supermarkets and couldn’t afford to buy in the few high-end gourmet outlets.
So he found a new way to bring everything to market, from a then-exotic snack food called granola to California-produced wines that rivaled anything from France. He made shopping for them almost as much fun as sailing the high seas when he created Trader Joe’s, a quirky grocery store filled with nautical themes and staffed not by managers and clerks but by “captains and mates.”
From the time he opened his first store in Pasadena in 1967 until his death Friday at age 89, Coulombe watched his namesake business rise from a cult favorite of educated but underpaid young people — and a few hippies — to a retail giant with more than 500 outlets in over 40 states.
A giant yes, but one that across more than half a century has never lost its reputation for friendly service from employees in goofy Hawaiian shirts, a newsletter that looks like it was published in the 1890s, and rows and rows of high-quality, moderately priced healthy food and great wine, even if you sometimes can’t ever again find exactly the same thing.
“He wanted to make sure whatever was sold in our store was of good value,” said Coulombe’s son, also named Joe, who added that his father died following a long illness. “He always did lots of taste tests. My sisters and I remember him bringing home all kinds of things for us to try. At his offices he had practically daily tastings of new products. Always the aim was to provide good food and good value to people.”
He achieved that by buying directly from wholesalers and cutting out the middleman, in many cases slapping the name Trader Joe’s on a bag of nuts, trail mix, organic dried mango, honey-oat cereal or Angus beef chili. He named several products after his daughters Charlotte and Madeleine and gave quirky names to others. Among them were Trader Darwin vitamins and a non-alcoholic sparkling juice called Eve’s Apple Sparkled by Adam.
He prided himself on checking out every vintage of wine from California’s Napa Valley, including Trader Joe’s standby, Charles Shaw, known as Two-Buck Chuck because it sold for $1.99. (It still does in the California stores, although shipping costs have increased the price in other states.)
After selling Trader Joe’s to German grocery retailer Aldi in 1979, Coulombe remained as its CEO until 1988, when he left to launch a second career as what he called a “temp,” coming in as interim CEO or consultant for several large companies in transition. He retired in 2013.
Joseph Hardin Coulombe, an only child, was born on June 3, 1930, in San Diego and lived on an avocado ranch in nearby Del Mar. After serving in the Air Force, he attended Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in business administration. There he met his future wife, Alice.
Major companies are beginning to cancel conferences and travel plans within the United States due to the coronavirus, which analysts warn will have cascading impacts on the country’s hotels, airlines and convention centers.
International travel — particularly to Asia — has so far been the hardest-hit part of the industry, though analysts say that could soon change as fears of the coronavirus spread to Europe and North America. Hotels around the country have begun reporting a rise in group cancellations. Some air carriers, including Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways, are doing away with cancellation fees as jittery travelers rethink their plans.
“The cancellations are starting to move toward North America,” said Scott Solombrino, executive director of the Global Business Travel Association, which estimates that the slowdown in global travel has already cost American businesses $7 billion this year. “Obviously the concern is that this will have a long-term impact on the U.S. economy.”
Analysts said wide-scale cancellations — which so far have been concentrated in large cities such as New York, Washington and Los Angeles — are starting to hit smaller U.S. cities, as companies change their internal travel policies.
Workday called off a sales conference in Orlando scheduled for next week, while Google and Facebook canceled multiple events in California and Nevada between March and May. Amazon this week told employees to put off “nonessential travel” in the United States, though it did not offer details on what types of trips would qualify. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Mounting cancellations, analysts said, are likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy, particularly for upscale hotels that rely on group bookings for about one-third of their sales, according to Jan Freitag, senior vice president of lodging insights for STR, a hospitality research firm.
“The most noticeable impact so far has been in group travel, with large conferences around the world being canceled,” he said. “These large group conferences take years and years to plan. If they don’t happen now, there is a good chance they won’t happen at all.”
Executives at Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, said this week that group bookings in the United States have started to take a hit. The Bethesda-based hospitality giant said much of the impact so far has been concentrated in Asia, where it has 800 hotels.
“To date, we have not yet seen a significant impact in the U.S., and our first quarter is off to a solid start, but the situation is fluid,” Leeny Oberg, Marriott’s chief financial officer, told CNBC on Wednesday. “We have seen a handful of citywide cancellations.”
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Booking Holdings, which owns Priceline, Booking.com and Kayak, said this week that it expects hotel room bookings to fall as much as 10 percent this quarter because of the coronavirus.
Shares of hotel companies and airlines plunged this week, as coronavirus-related fears led global markets to post their worst weekly losses since the Great Recession. Shares of Marriott and InterContinental Hotels Group fell about 9 percent apiece, while American Airlines and Jet Blue posted declines of more than 20 percent. Expedia Group, meanwhile, posted a 13 percent drop in share price.
“Every day we think we could be near a bottom, and every day we are not,” Helane Becker, an airline industry analyst for Cowen, wrote in a note to clients this week. “The virus has spread, and the question is how much do people change their travel plans.”
Hostelling International USA, which oversees nearly 50 properties around the country, said group cancellations are on the rise. Individual travelers, though, are “so far going strong,” spokeswoman Netanya Trimboli said.
The company is taking extra precautions by training employees on how to properly clean surfaces and encouraging them to stay home if they feel sick. New signs at its hostels remind guests to wash their hands and cough into their elbows.
Other hotels also report stalling demand, as Americans put off travel plans. But analysts say the largest impact on the hospitality market could come from a slowdown of Chinese visitors, who last year contributed $34 billion to the U.S. economy, according to Philadelphia-based Tourism Economics. Chinese visitors typically spend about $6,000 and spend an average of 15 nights in a hotel while in the United States, the firm said. It expects the number of Chinese travelers to the United States to drop by 25 percent this year.
“Right now there’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics. “It’s shaping up to be very similar to SARS, when we saw very severe impacts.”
This time, he said, could be worse: Visits from China to the United States have grown nearly 13-fold since 2002, making a possible coronavirus outbreak much more devastating to the U.S. economy than the SARS epidemic was in 2003.
“Reservations are at a standstill,” said Kim Lee, who handles sales at Arc The.Hotel, a boutique property in Washington’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood, where multiple groups have canceled reservations in recent weeks. “We’ve seen a real decline.