A man wearing a protective face mask, following an outbreak of the coronavirus, talks on his mobile phone in front of a screen showing the Nikkei index outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, February 26, 2020. — Reuters pic
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures were down 0.1 per cent but the contract is up 1.4 per cent from the Nikkei’s index close of 19,137.95 yesterday. Sensitivity to news related to coronavirus therapies reflects investors’ desperation for any indication of when the global economy might be able to start returning to normal, said chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel, Tim Ghriskey.
President Donald Trump, who has said he will sign the bill, said late yesterdaythat he may need to extend social distancing guidelines to early summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.44 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 23,515.26, the S&P 500 lost 1.51 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 2,797.8 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.63 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 8,494.75.
Meanwhile, in a virtual meeting, divided European Union leaders began their search yesterday for a joint financial fund of up to €2 trillion to help recover from the coronavirus pandemic and avoid economic collapse in the bloc’s poorer south.