In European Equity Markets the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.7%, having been up more than 2% earlier in the day. Travel and leisure stocks fell 4% to lead losses while banks and chemicals stocks climbed nearly 1%. Adidas warned before the opening bell of a 1 billion euro ($1.13 billion) sales drop in greater China for the first quarter. The company’s shares fell 9.1%. K+S shares climbed 10.2% despite the German minerals miner reporting lower-than-expected fourth-quarter core profit and revising down its 2020 guidance.

In Currency Markets sterling clung to most of its earlier gains on Wednesday after the British government unveiled a 30 billion pound ($39 billion) economic stimulus plan, hours after the Bank of England slashed interest rates to lift the struggling economy. While a spurt of buying sent the pound up as much 0.7% to $1.2962 on the dollar in early trading, the momentum subsided by the budget announcement leaving the British currency up only 0.4% on the day at $1.2927 as the interest rate cuts were larger than expected.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced plans to boost production capacity and OPEC and the U.S. EIA cut oil demand forecasts because of the coronavirus outbreak. Brent crude was down 2.7%, at $36.21 per barrel, while U.S. WTI crude was off 3% at $33.31‮‮.‬‬ With the collapse of coordinated output cuts by Saudi Arabia, Russia and others, the Saudi energy ministry has directed producer Saudi Aramco to raise its output capacity to 13 million from 12 million barrels per day (bpd).

In US Equity Markets indices fell on Wednesday as investors worried over the absence of immediate measures from President Donald Trump’s administration to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. The S&P 500 was down 4.23%, at 2,760.33. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3.82%, at 8,025.85. The energy sector fell 5.2%. Nike Inc fell 6.7%, the most among the blue-chip Dow components, after rivals Adidas and Puma flagged a sales hit in China due to the outbreak.

In Bond Markets Italian government bond yields fell sharply from recent highs on Wednesday, on expectations the European Central Bank will boost monetary stimulus when it meets on Thursday to counter the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the European economy. Italian government bond yields were down between 10 and 17 basis points across the board, coming off recent highs. The benchmark 10-year government bond yield was down 14 basis points at 1.19%.