Stock markets fell again this Monday, in the wake of Wall Street losses last week, fearing that tensions over the coronavirusprovoke a new trade war between the United States and China. Read: Trump: Mexico has big problems with coronavirus
The accusations of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, assuring that the coronavirus was created in a laboratory in Wuhan (China) hid in the markets the improvements in the rate of contagion of the pandemic.
Last week the three main indices of the New York Stock Exchange closed with falls between 2.6% and 3.2%, after having lived the best month of April in decades.
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Following in its wake, Asian stocks were down after a three-day weekend.
Hong Kong fell 4.2% and Bombái more than 5%. Stock markets in Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta also fell more than 2%, but Sydney added more than 2%.
The Tokyo and Shanghai stock exchanges were closed for holidays.
In Europe, the main exchanges also closed in red. The one in Paris registered the strongest drop (-4.24%) at the close, followed by Milan (-3.70%), Frankfurt (-3.64%), Madrid (-3.60%) and London, which closed almost in balance (-0.16%).
Investors fear Trump, as he impliedA, Apply new tariffs on Chinese products in retaliation to China, whom you accuse of coronavirus mismanagement.
The trade war between the two major world economies already destabilized markets last year before a partial truce in December.
President Trump sounds the drums of trade war again … increasing the chances of a significant risk of volatility, “said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp’s.
Analysts warn that after strong April rises – fueled by optimism that the worst of the pandemic had passed – stocks could experience a tumultuous month of May as business results and other indicators reveal the real economic situation. .
“For several weeks now the prospect of significant monetary and fiscal stimulus had led to a rebound in the equity markets“CMC analyst Michael Hewson said, warning that the situation is changing.
The red in the markets raised the dollar against riskier currencies such as the Mexican peso, the Australian dollar or the South Korean won.
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For their part, oil prices fell after last week’s increases as the world’s main producers begin to apply the agreement to limit their production by around 10 million barrels per day.
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