NEW YORK: Global equity markets tumbled and the dollar slid on Thursday as the number of coronavirus cases outside China mounted rapidly, leading California to declare an emergency and HSBC in London to send more than 100 staff home.

The Institute of International Finance cut its forecast for the US and Chinese economies because of the coronavirus and warned that global growth could be the weakest since the financial crisis a decade ago.

Global growth in 2020 could conceivably approach 1pc, far below the 2.6pc expansion in 2019, the Washington-based financial industry association said. The pandemic is now in some 80 countries and has killed more than 3,000 worldwide.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.33pc, while emerging market stocks rose 0.31pc.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.35pc.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 699.71 points, or 2.58pc, to 26,391.15. The S&P 500 lost 75.32 points, or 2.41pc, to 3,054.8 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 169.24 points, or 1.88pc, to 8,848.85.

The dollar slipped to a fresh eight-week low as traders bet the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further, and gold prices climbed about 1.5pc to a more than one-week high.

Money markets are pricing in another 25 basis point cut from the current 1pc to 1.25pc range at the next Fed meeting on March 18-19 and a 50 basis point cut by April. The Fed cut its target rate by one-half percentage points on Tuesday. The dollar index fell 0.563pc, with the euro up 0.57pc to $1.1198. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.94pc versus the greenback at 106.55 per dollar.

Oil prices edged lower. Brent crude fell by 18 cents to $50.95 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate slid 13 cents to $46.65.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2020