FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians wearing face masks walk near an overpass with an electronic board showing stock information, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease , at Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Aly SongNEW YORK: retailers suffered a record sales collapse in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The grim outlook was echoed by lenders with major U.S. banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Citigroup Inc warning of future loan losses as they posted drops in profits. Evidence that the global downturn has slashed the demand for oil again drubbed U.S. crude prices. The United States had reported overnight its biggest weekly inventory build on record, following a warning from the International Energy Agency that oil demand will dive 29 million barrels a day in April to levels unseen in a quarter of a century.
U.S. two-year yields were at 0.201per cent after dropping below 0.2per cent for the first time in three years, and 10-year yields were at a one-week low at 0.635per cent, more than 100 basis points off their January levels.