The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero in its second emergency move in two weeks and pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in asset purchases, saying the epidemic was having a"profound" impact on the economy.
Central banks in Japan, Australia and New Zealand followed with their own measures but could not stem a slide in global stocks. The benchmark European index has now lost more than a third of its value since hitting a record high in mid-February, with declines made worse by a crash in oil prices and the European Central Bank's decision to hold interest rates last week.