China’s Coronavirus Crisis Drives Asian Markets Lower

In Tokyo and Hong Kong, stocks were down 1.5 percent, while in Seoul they fell 1.7 percent. Traders in Taipei, returning from the Lunar New Year holiday, pushed the market down by 5.8 percent. China’s markets remain closed for an extended holiday until Feb. 3.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, hit its lowest price this year before paring some of its losses. It was trading at about $59 a barrel.

Policymakers in Japan and the United States issued warnings about the potential impact of the virus on the economy. “There will clearly be implications,” said the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, on Wednesday. “We just have to see what the effect is globally.”

Earlier this week, a Japanese economy minister warned of the impact of the virus on exports and corporate profits.

“The risk of contagion is affecting economic activity and financial markets,” analysts at Moody’s Analytics wrote in an email to clients. “The immediate and most significant economic impact is in China but will reverberate globally, given the importance of China in global growth as well as in global company revenue.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/business/global-markets.html?emc=rss&partner=rss