European Shares Seen Up On Dovish ECB Expectations

European stocks look set to open higher on Tuesday, a day after the European Central Bank said it stands “ready to take appropriate and targeted measures” to cope with a widespread coronavirus outbreak.

Asian markets pared early gains as the virus continued to spread far outside of its original epicenter in China, with around 70 countries reporting cases and clusters of diseases.

“We are in uncharted territory,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday as South Korea, Iran and Italy have emerged as major spawning grounds for the novel coronavirus.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has declared “war” against the novel coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the country neared 5,000, the worst outside of China.

New infections dropped dramatically in China, while the death toll in the U.S. rose to six.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today his government was ready to deploy further fiscal stimulus measures if needed.

Australia’s central bank today cut interest rates to a record low 0.5 percent to help cushion the economic damage.

Meanwhile, today is one of the most important milestones in the race to see who will challenge U.S. President Donald Trump in November’s election.

The Bank of Canada has a rate decision on Wednesday while OPEC ministers will gather in Vienna on March 5-6 to agree deeper production cutbacks.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G7 countries will hold a conference call today on the economic impact of coronavirus.

The safe-haven yen rose against the dollar, while oil prices traded higher for the second straight session.

Flash inflation and unemployment figures from euro area are due later in the session, headlining a busy day for the European economic news.

U.S. stocks rose sharply overnight as investors grew optimistic that central banks around the world will take action to limit the impact of the coronavirus on their economies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped as much as 5.1 percent to wrap up its strongest single-day gain since 2009.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 4.5 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 4.6 percent, marking their biggest one-day rise since December 2018.

European markets ended a choppy session on a mixed note Monday. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1 percent.

The German DAX dropped 0.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 index rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 1.1 percent.

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