EQUITIES
S&P 500 Index : $2,783.36, down -62.70 points or -2.20%
Dow Jones Industrial Average : $23,504.35, down -445.41 points or -1.86%
Nasdaq Composite Index : $8,393.18, down -122.56 points or -1.44%
Europe exchanges are following steps in losses as London's FTSE 100 down -3.34%, Germany's DAX down -3.90% and France's CAC 40 down -3.76%. Italy's closed -4.78% lower and pan-European Stoxx 600 index shed -3.25% closed Wednesday.
Asian markets retreated in early trade. Japan's Nikkei 225 shed -0.45%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng recording loss of -1.19%, China's Shanghai Composite down -0.57%, Singapore’s loss -1.10%, South Korea’s KOSPI gain 1.72%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 loss -% in early trading.
OIL
Brent crude futures ended the session lower on Wednesday at $27.69 per barrel, a decrease of -6.74%, while WTI crude futures lose -1.19%, at $19.87 per barrel.
Currently, Brent is trading at $28.11 per barrel and WTI is trading at $20.36 per barrel as of writing time (UTC+8).
CURRENCIES
The dollar’s index against a basket of six other major currencies =USD stood at 99.80, maintaining the 0.2% gain from the previous session.
Dollar traded higher against some other major currencies in early trade, including against MXN (1.16%), NZD (0.57%), SEK (0.46%), SGD (0.30%), AUD (0.38%), EUR (0.22%), CHF (0.21%), DKK (0.21%), JPY (0.15%), GBP (0.13%), NOK (0.11%), and CAD (0.06%).
Meanwhile, drops against Russia’s RUB (-0.04%) at the latest reading.
GOLD
Gold currently trading at $1,718.50 per ounce, while stands around $1,743.60 per ounce for gold futures as of writing time. Previously closed at 1,715.20 and 1,740.20, respectively.
Silver trading at $15.59, platinum trading at $799.50 and palladium trading at $2,135.20.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
IMF warned that the pandemic, dubbed “the Great Lockdown” will result in a fall in global output of more than £7trillion this year and next.
Stocks in Asia fell in Thursday morning trade.
Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes fell in the overnight session Wednesday evening as investors awaited key jobless claims data on Thursday.
U.S. crude prices fell to an 18-year low and Brent lost more than 6%.
Australia’s unemployment rate in March came in at 5.2%, according to data from the country’s bureau of statistics. That was better than expectations of a 5.5% unemployment rate for the month.
U.S.’s consumer and manufacturing reports for March showed the hit to the economy was deeper than expected.
Trump administration is considering paying U.S. oil producers to essentially stop producing, in a bid to help alleviate the oversupply in the market that has pushed crude prices to 18-year lows,
To date, number of confirmed worldwide cases for COVID-19 pandemic has now reached more than 2,084,000 today affecting 210 countries and territories around the world, recording more than 135,000 fatality globally.
TECHNICAL OUTLOOK
[AUDJPY]
- Short
Reasons: Australia is expected to lose 40,000 jobs in March amid the pandemic and poor global equity performance has burdened the Aussie.
