Stocks sell-off as coronavirus surge knocks recovery hopes

June 25, 2020: Asia's stock markets slipped, bonds rose and the U.S. dollar was firm on Thursday as surging U.S. coronavirus cases, global trade tensions and an International Monetary Fund downgrade to economic projections knocked confidence in a recovery.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7%, Tokyo's Nikkei slumped 1.4% and Australia's ASX 200 tumbled 1.8%. U.S. stock futures also declined 0.7% following on from an overnight slide on Wall Street.

Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China are closed for public holidays on Thursday.

Florida, Oklahoma and South Carolina reported record increases in new cases on Wednesday. Seven other states had record highs earlier in the week and Australia posted its biggest daily rise in infections in two months.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut ordered travelers from nine other states to quarantine on arrival, a worry for investors who had mostly been expecting an end to pandemic restrictions.

Texas is also facing a "massive outbreak" and authorities are considering localized restrictions, Governor Greg Abbott said in a television interview.

Australian airline Qantas said on Thursday it doesn't expect sizeable international operations until at least July 2021, as the carrier announced plans to sack a fifth of its workforce and raise $1.3 billion to stay afloat.

The International Monetary Fund said it now expects a deeper global recession, with output to shrink 4.9% this year, much sharper than the 3.0% contraction predicted in April.

"There is a little bit of reality bites coming," said Damian Rooney, a senior instructional salesman at stockbroker Argonaut in Perth.

"I don't think there was a particular straw that broke the camel's back, but people are a little bit twitchy - there are a lot of reasons to be pretty cautious."

Oil prices, a proxy for global energy consumption and economic growth, nursed losses following a 5% tumble overnight as U.S. crude storage hit another record and demand worries resurfaced.

The dollar clung on to broad overnight gains which had lifted it from near a two-week low.

Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell to a one-week low of 0.6724%.

HANDBRAKE

Worries were even more pronounced on Wall Street overnight and pulled major indexes back to flat for the month.

The S&P 500 fell 2.6% overnight and the Nasdaq Composite snapped eight sessions of gains and slipped 2.2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2.72% with retail-investor darlings in the travel sector hammered.

Anxiety in markets is likely to remain heightened ahead of U.S. jobless claims data due at 1230 GMT, along with virus case figures, and confidence could be dented by disappointment on either count.

"Any improvement in jobs might be counteracted if there is another pickup in the caseload in the United States," said Kyle Rodda, market analyst at brokerage IG in Melbourne.

"It's a potential handbrake on the growth rebound story."

On top of virus concerns, worrying signals on the trade front have unnerved investors.

The United States has added items valued at $3.1 billion to a list of European goods eligible to be hit with import duties, as it seeks to keep the pressure on in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies.

The Trump administration has also determined that Chinese firms, including Huawei and video surveillance company Hikvision , are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, laying the groundwork for sanctions and fresh Sino-U.S. tension.

That has stalled a rally in riskier currencies, and dropped the Australian dollar under 69 cents to $0.6864, and had the kiwi stalled around 64 cents.

Gold steadied at $1,764.07 an ounce.

U.S. crude futures rose by 6 cents a barrel or 0.1% to $38.07 and Brent crude futures were flat at $40.30.

Reuters