(Adds oil, gold settlement prices)
* Hubei province reports 14,840 new cases
* 10-year Treasury yields drop below 1.6%; European yields
dip
* Euro struggles after slumping to near 3-year low
* World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Herbert Lash and Marc Jones
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The dollar rose and
global equity markets slumped on Thursday after a new
methodology that boosted the death toll in China from the
coronavirus unnerved investors, putting the brakes on a rally
that had lifted U.S. and European stocks to record peaks.
Chinese officials said 242 people died in Hubei province on
Wednesday, the biggest daily rise since the virus emerged in the
provincial capital of Wuhan in December.
Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed
by RNA tests, which can take days, and began using computerized
tomography (CT) scans to identify and isolate cases faster. The
move effectively lowered the bar for classifying new infections.
As a result, 14,840 new cases were reported in the province
on Thursday, up from 2,015 new cases nationwide a day earlier.
Investors sought safety in U.S. assets, pushing the yield on
the 10-year U.S. Treasury note lower as the euro plunged to a
more than two-year low against the dollar. The euro fell to a
four-and-a-half-year low against the Swiss franc.
The United States is expected to weather the economic impact
of the virus better than the euro zone.
The chief economist of AXA Investment Managers, Gilles Moec,
said the impact of the virus could be part of a "perfect storm"
for Europe that hurts the economy for months before being
compounded by a heated trade battle with the United States.
"We started with the premise that this virus would be worse
than SARS and that has now become consensus," Moec said. "So
attention turns to who is hit the hardest, and Europe is among
the usual suspects and Germany in particular, given China is its
biggest export market. So the reaction of the exchange rate is
probably rational."
The dollar index rose 0.02%, with the euro
down 0.26% to $1.0843.
Europe's main markets followed Asia into red, while stocks
on Wall Street traded slightly lower to little changed.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed
0.08% and its emerging markets index lost 0.33%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.02%.
The FTSE 100 in London slid 1.1%, derailed by steep
falls in heavyweights Barclays and utility Centrica
, along with the jolt to risk sentiment from the rise in
coronavirus cases in China.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell
40.67 points, or 0.14%, to 29,510.75. The S&P 500 gained
3.29 points, or 0.10%, to 3,382.74 and the Nasdaq Composite
added 13.49 points, or 0.14%, to 9,739.46.
While the jump in reported coronavirus cases was unsettling,
markets in Asia took the news in stride.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
snapped two days of 1% gains to close 0.1% lower
as most markets across the region posted modest declines.
"There is no panic on this," said Frank Benzimra, head of
Asia equity strategy at Societe Generale in Hong Kong, since the
dramatic rise in cases seems so far to be contained to Hubei.
Oil prices rose, shrugging off bearish reports that cut back
demand forecasts for this year on the back of the coronavirus
outbreak. China is the world's biggest oil importer.
Paring losses from earlier in the session, Brent crude
rose 55 cents to settle at $56.34 a barrel, while U.S.
West Texas Intermediate added 25 cents to settle at
$51.42 a barrel.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 2/32 in price
to yield 1.619%. The yield earlier fell to 1.568%.
U.S. gold futures settled up 0.5% at $1,578.80 an
ounce.
There was drama for Brexit-bound British markets.
The sudden resignation of the British finance minister Sajid
Javid caused a jump in both sterling and British government bond
yields amid bets that his replacement, the 39-year-old Rishi
Sunak, will beef up spending.
Javid's departure, coming less than a month before he was
due to deliver his first budget and after just 204 days on the
job, made him the shortest-serving chancellor of the exchequer
since 1970.
"I suspect he (Sunak) is likely to do whatever Boris Johnson
tells him to do," said Nomura economist George Buckley. "I don't
know what that means for the public finances and fiscal policy,
but I doubt it will mean tighter fiscal policy."
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Centrica (CNA)
Barclays (BARC)
