GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rebound in broad rally, safe-haven assets lose luster

Global equity markets rebounded in a broad rally on Tuesday and some safe-haven assets lost a bit of their appeal as investors took a less pessimistic view of the potential economic fallout from China's coronavirus outbreak. Gold fell and the Japanese yen eased against the dollar, but risk aversion in currency markets persisted, with the Australian dollar leading losers and the greenback strengthening to an eight-week high against a basket of six rivals.

Gains in technology and financial shares led Wall Street to recoup some losses from the worst selloff in about four months on Monday that was sparked by the coronavirus outbreak and worries over its near-term impact on growth. Major European and U.S. stock indexes rebounded around 1% as President Xi Jinping said China was sure of defeating a "devil" coronavirus that has killed 106 people.

Chinese markets will remain closed until next week, but a 0.5% overnight drop in Tokyo's Nikkei was more modest than Monday's thumping. Other Asian markets that were openly rallied. "History shows us as we look back at several different examples that these viral outbreaks tend to be short-lived," said Candice Bangsund, a global asset allocation portfolio manager at Fiera Capital in Montreal.

While markets are likely to gyrate in the short term, the global economy will resume the improving growth it started to exhibit late last year, Bangsund said. "The economy could be ripe for a sharp snapback or a V-shaped recovery once we find out when this is contained and when the outbreak is indeed brought under control," she said. We maintain the global economy will come back to life."

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.61%, while its emerging market index lost 0.25%. Shares on Wall Street also surged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 214.84 points, or 0.75%, to 28,750.64. The S&P 500 gained 33.77 points, or 1.04%, to 3,277.4 and the Nasdaq Composite added 122.92 points, or 1.34%, to 9,262.23.

Oil futures edged up after falling for five days following the recovery in equities and talk that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies might tighten the market amid fears the coronavirus could weigh on oil demand. Brent futures rose 46 cents to $59.78 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude added 55 cents to $53.69.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note bounced off three-month lows after a key part of the yield curve briefly inverted for the first time since October. The yield fell as low as 1.57% overnight, the lowest since Oct. 10, before the 10-year note fell 13/32 in price to yield 1.6476%.

An inverted curve, when longer-dated yields fall below shorter-maturity ones, has been a fairly reliable signal that a U.S. recession will follow one to two years later. Eurozone government bond yields bounced off three-month lows to rise for the first time in over a week after U.S. consumer confidence exceeded expectations to hit its highest level since August.

Traders awaited the outcome of a two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers, which started on Tuesday. The market consensus is that the central bank will keep interest rates unchanged at between 1.5% and 1.75%. The dollar index rose 0.12%, with the euro down 0.06% to $1.1009. The yen weakened 0.24% versus the greenback at 109.16 per dollar.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)