Wall Street Set to Plunge With Global Markets in Turmoil: Live Updates

The central bank was reacting to comments by Robert Holzmann, president of the Austrian National Bank, who is also a member of its own governing council.

In an interview published on Wednesday, Mr. Holzmann told the Vienna newspaper Der Standard that “monetary policy has reached its limits” and that it was up to governments to deal with the consequences of the crisis.

After the interview was published, Mr. Holzmann retracted those remarks. “Monetary policy is a long way from reaching its limits,” he said in a statement issued by the Austrian central bank.

The European Central Bank has been struggling with communication gaffes since its president, Christine Lagarde, made comments last week that were interpreted to mean that the bank would not protect a country like Italy should its borrowing costs rise to unsustainable levels.

Philippine stock exchange to resume trading on Thursday.

Philippine financial markets were set to reopen on Thursday, after becoming the first to shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Philippine stock exchange, which shut on Tuesday, will keep reduced hours, it said in a statement. Other trading, in bonds and in foreign currencies, resumed on Wednesday.

Following an emergency meeting that ended late on Tuesday, the government of the Philippines decided to allow resumption of capital and money market trading with a lean work force.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/business/stock-market-today.html