Laura Garcia
02/24/2020 - 11:25
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
Fear of the spread of coronavirus beyond Asia hit European markets on Monday and predicts a black day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones fell 2% at the opening of the session, while the S&P 500 sank 2.6% and the Nasdaq technology index lost 2.7%.
The stock market that suffered the biggest collapse was that of Italy , precisely the most affected country in the old continent so far for the registered cases. The shares collapsed 4.7%, although all of Europe felt the cimbronazo.
The Stoxx Europe 600, an index that brings together the main European companies, lost 3.5%, its biggest drop since 2016 . London fell 3.5 and, Frankfurt, almost 4%, as did Paris.
Brent collapsed 4.1% , to US $ 56.09 a barrel also for fear of the occurrence of more cases outside Asia, which could result in a fall in demand. Meanwhile, the WTI gave 4%, up to US $ 51.28. So far this year, the first one has already fallen by more than 14%, while the one in Texas fell by almost 16%.
Checkups in Baghdad for coronavirus. EFE photo
The price of gold - a typical refuge asset - skyrocketed 2% to US $ 1,675.76 per ounce, after having hit a maximum in seven years of US $ 1,688.66.
The 10-year American Treasury bond rate , the other preferred deposit by investors in times of turbulence, had fallen to its lowest level since July 2016 (1.37%).
In Asia, investors did not shake so much but they were still badly injured . In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 1.8%, while the Shanghai indicator lost 0.3%.
