Not the best of weeks for global markets with most major bourses clocking up losses, except for Australia (see separate story).
Global stocks saw their biggest weekly drop since early December, while the gloom sent investors scurrying for the relative safety of government debt, producing the best rally for US Treasuries in three months.
US shares fell 2.2%, Eurozone shares lost 1.3%, Japanese shares dropped 2.7% and Chinese shares were off 2.5% after a strong run-up since late last year.
Australian shares edged up 0.2%, ignoring the negative impact of slowing growth (see separate story).
Bond yields fell as the ECB announced more monetary easing and on growth worries. Commodity prices were mixed with metals and iron ore down but oil and gold up.
The Aussie dollar eased on increasing expectations for RBA rate cuts this year as the greenback also rose.
On Wall Street the weak jobs report for last month brought home and growing belief that the American economy is slowing – though economists say another couple of months of data, especially jobs and wages, will be needed to confirm the trend.
But the prospects of a rate rise in the US this year is now remote.
Investors had been waiting for the February jobs report to provide more clues on the state of the world’s biggest economy and were shocked that US non-farm payrolls only rose by 20,000 last month, undershooting market estimates for a 180,000 increase.
The Dow rebounded from off intraday lows to end 22.99 points, lower or 0.1%, at 25,450.24. The S&P 500 index shed 5.86 points, or 0.2%, to 2,743.07 and the Nasdaq Composite Index eased13.32 points, or 0.2%, to 7,408.14, marking its weakest stretch since April.
For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 fell 2.2% and the Nasdaq lost 2.5%.
It was the 5th down session in a row for the S&P 500, its longest losing streak since late November. The 2.2% loss trimmed its 2019 gain to 9.4%.
Treasuries were stronger as yields eased. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury was down 7 basis points at 2.6303%.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 was down 0.9 percent after weak German industrial production data followed the European Central Bank’s relaxation of monetary policy and quantitative easing.
Watch the German and European markets closely after confirmation that the troubled Deutsche Bank had agreed to start informal merger talks with rival Commerzbank, after intense government pressure to do so.
The news will cause nervousness about other European bank shares.
But the biggest moves came on China’s mainland after the steepest decline in exports in three years deepened worries about the impact of Trump trade war on the country’s economy.
Stock indices there made their steepest single-session fall since October, with the CSI 300 down almost 4%, cutting the year-to-date advance to 21%. The Shanghai Composite was down 4.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.7%.
