Last checked at 
(A look at the day ahead from EMEA deputy markets editor Sujata
Rao. The views expressed are her own.)
*For an interactive graphic tracking the coronavirus spread,
open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the new coronavirus
After April finished with a whimper on stock markets, the new
month has come in similarly weak. Threatening to make a bad
situation worse is President Donald Trump, who has weighed in
with a threat to impose new trade tariffs on China in
retaliation for coronavirus. With the U.S. election campaign
likely to get into full swing in coming months, Trump might up
his anti-China rhetoric -- he says he was confident the virus
originated in a Chinese lab.
But the full effect of that newsflow will not be felt fully
today, a public holiday in many countries.
MSCI world stocks have added to last night's 0.7% fall,
which broke a six-day winning streak. Wall Street capped its
best month in 33 years with a loss, hurt by horrible U.S.
economic data and mixed company results. U.S. weekly jobless
claims totalled 3.84 million and U.S. personal spending tumbled
7.5% in March, the biggest decline on record.
That came a day after figures showed the biggest quarterly
contraction for the U.S. economy since the Great Recession. The
Federal Reserve has widened a programme aimed at Main Street.
That put pressure on the dollar, which is set for a 2% weekly
loss. It has steadied somewhat this morning, however.
Economic data are awful everywhere. Data today showed Tokyo
inflation -- a good gauge for the rest of Japan -- fell for the
first time in three years and Japanese April factory activity
shrank at the fastest pace in a decade. South Korean exports, a
good bellwether for world trade, suffered the worst slump in 11
years, with a 24% fall.
The holiday means currency liquidity will be thin and there
is no exchange trading in euro zone government bonds or
equities. London is open, however, and the FTSE has opened 2.4%
lower after the previous day’s 3.5% slump, which was the biggest
in a month. On the earnings front, another dire bank reading,
this time from RBS, where profits halved in the first quarter
and provisions of 800 million pounds were made against bad
loans.
In all, Britain's biggest four banks - RBS, HSBC,
Barclays and Lloyds - have set aside a
combined 6.7 billion pounds to cover an expected rise in
defaults. On the aviation front, Ryanair will ground almost all
its planes until July, while British Airways plans to lay off a
quarter of its pilots. And London's Heathrow Airport, usually
the busiest in Europe, said passenger numbers would be down
around 97% in April.
Is there any good news at all? On the coronavirus front,
growth in new infections as well as deaths seems to have slowed.
More countries should resume economic, with Germany out of the
blocks next week. Deutsche Bank notes also that lockdowns may
have averted 11,000 air pollution-linked deaths in Europe –
figures will be multiples of that across Asia and Latin America.
Also, during Wall Street's night of the FAANGs, Apple
revenues pleasantly surprised, pushing shares higher. Amazon
warned of its first quarterly loss in five years, hitting shares
after-hours, but its forecast of a 26% revenue jump to around
$80 billion is still an astonishing feat -- one analyst
calculated that as amounting to $10,000 worth of sales every
second for three months.
Some major emerging markets, from South Africa to Malaysia,
have started or announced plans to gradually re-open economies
But the sector is taking a hit from the worries of a renewed
tariff war between China and the United States, the latest falls
offsetting the week's 5% gains for stocks. Brazil's record-low
real slumped another 2.8% overnight, Mexico's peso dropped 1%
and South Africa's rand is down almost 1% today.
(Editing by Larry King)
