Friday, February 21–Jim Wyckoff’s Morning Markets Report
Asian and European shares were mostly down overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward weaker openings when the New York day session begins. Risk-off trading attitudes are keen as the trading week winds down, as the coronavirus continues to spread in Asia, and its impact on the global economy is perceived to be getting much more serious.
Reports overnight said China’s auto sales fell over 90% in February as coronavirus restrictions prevented buyers from visiting car dealerships. Over 21 million autos were sold in China in 2019, making China the world’s largest auto market. The Hubei province is still in lock-down and officials there have pushed back the date for businesses to reopen to 10 March. That date could be further delayed if covid-19 is not contained by then.
China recorded over 800 new cases Thursday (up from around 400 Wednesday), with the total number of afflicted now at over 75,000 and over 2,200 dead. South Korea has reported over 200 confirmed covid-19 cases. The capital has banned all rallies in major downtown areas.
From a marketplace perspective the covid-10, or coronavirus, situation is still very fluid regarding the economic impact on major world economies. Traders and investors are vacillating daily on whether the outbreak’s rate of spread is accelerating or declining. This uncertainty will continue to support buying interest in safe-haven assets like gold, U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar, and the movement of money out of riskier assets like stocks. Gold prices hit another seven-year high of around $1,640 overnight.
Manufacturing indexes from the major world economies are starting to show the negative effects of the covid-19 outbreak. U.S. companies are also mentioning the illness as impacting their bottom lines when earnings reports are released.
The key outside markets today see crude oil prices lower and trading around $52.75 a barrel. Meantime, the U.S. dollar index is weaker on a corrective pullback after hitting a multi-month high Thursday.
U.S. economic data due for release Friday includes the US flash manufacturing PMI, the services PMI, and existing home sales.
–Jim
