US markets climb on news of a central bank stimulus and a funding bill to tackle the outbreak
Sydney — Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.9% and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1%. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3%. “There is little doubt that the Covid-19 outbreak will slow global growth considerably this quarter, and we expect it to actually produce a rare non-recessionary contraction in GDP,” said JPMorgan economist Joseph Lupton.
Yet, as policymakers grapple with the best strategy to avoid a global recession, some major central bank have been less keen to follow suit. “We have to get past the threshold where Covid-19 shifts from panic to headline exhaustion and subsequent news on it becomes more and more of a fade,” he added. “Then risk assets can move higher in earnest.”At least the US economy was in healthy shape to face the risks, with services sector activity jumping to a one-year high in February, while private payrolls gained 183,000.
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