More than 3,000 people have been killed by the corona-virus, about 3.4% of those infected - far above seasonal flu's fatality rate of under 1%. It continues to spread quickly beyond the outbreak's epicenter in China, with Italy overnight reporting a jump in deaths to 79. Japanese public broadcaster NHK cited Health Ministry, saying that cases in Japan have now hit the 1,000 mark. Of those, 706 are from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, while 12 have died.
S&P Global Ratings cut its U.S. growth forecast for a second time on Tuesday and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned the world is headed for its worst downturn since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
"We do recognize that a rate cut will not reduce the rate of infection, it won't fix a broken supply chain; we get that," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell
In Asian morning trade,
The yen hit its highest against the greenback since October, at 106.84 per dollar, before paring gains to trade flat.
The Australian dollar advanced to $0.6612.
EUR/USD's 4-hour chart shows a bearish indicator divergence. The pair could witness a pullback to 1.11, having failed to keep gains above 1.12 during the overnight trade.
GBP/USD holds onto recovery gains. 200-HMA, 61.8% Fibonacci retrenchment add to the resistances.The weekly support line restricts the immediate downside.
Asian shares wobbled and bonds held gains, as an emergency rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve did little to soothe investor fears over the corona-virus's widening fallout. The surprise 50 basis point cut came with commentary highlighting the limits of monetary policy, and Wall Street indexes fell sharply, gold surged and the dollar sank.
The yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries, which falls when prices rise, hit a once unimaginable low of 0.9060%.
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