Wall Street had its worst loss for decades in the quarter to March 31 as a brutal sell-off last month, courtesy of the still-growing impact of the COVID-19 virus, forced governments everywhere to stun economies and put them into sleep mode, in some cases deep hibernation.
That has whacked stockmarkets, commodities, and bonds globally – helped in the case of oil, by the ill-timed dummy spit by Russia and Saudi Arabia which triggered an oil price and volume, sending oil prices plunging by around 66% and the biggest quarterly loss on record.
The last day of the quarter was typical of March’s trading in particular – a tentative start in the green, and then a sell-off that started slowly and accelerated in the final hour of trading.
And despite the late slide on Wall Street, the overnight futures market has the ASX 200 starting with a 1.3% plus gain of more than 70 points.
That is an act of courage, especially after Tuesday’s big initial gain and then nasty loss in a late slide.
That’s despite another weak night for major commodities such as gold, oil, copper and iron ore.
That saw the Dow around 410 points, or 1.8%, to end at 21,917. That saw the Dow lose 23.2% over the first three months of the year, its worst first-quarter performance on record and the biggest overall quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 1987.
The S&P 500 lost 42 points, or 1.6%, to close 2,584.59, leaving it with a 20% quarterly fall. The Nasdaq dropped around 74 points, or 1%, to finish near 7,700. It fell a smaller quarterly drop of around 14%.
For March the Dow lost 15.4%, The S&P 500 dropped 13.94% and the Nasdaq shed 14.18%.
Concerns remain over the spread of COVID-19 in the US and Europe in particular, with economic activity under lockdown amid a rising tally of infections and a death toll that continues to rise and shows no sign of easing in either country.
Spain reported its highest number of deaths since the crisis began on Tuesday, while coronavirus-related fatalities in the US surged past 3,400, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Aussie dollar fell almost 6.7% in March to end around 61.26 and 12% for the quarter. Aussie 10 year bonds eased a few points to 0.74% while the yield on US 10 year treasuries dipped 47 points to 0.69%.
European markets shared the losses – the Stoxx 600 index fell 16% in March and more than 23% for the quarter. London fell 15.5% in March and nearly 25% for the quarter (its worst since 1987), Italy lost 21.6% and 27.4%, Paris shed 18.5% last month and nearly 26.5% for the three months and Germany dropped 17% in March and 25% for the quarter.
In Asia, Tokyo eased 10.3% and 20% for the quarter, The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was off 10.2% and 16.3%, Shanghai lost just 8% and 9.8% respectively and Singapore fell 17.8% and 23% for the quarter.
