February market update – number of coronavirus cases impacts global economy

Global equity markets experienced a sharp sell-off at the end of February linked to fears over the growing number of global coronavirus cases and the expected impact on the global economy. In fact, a number of developed market equity indices experienced their largest weekly losses since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. 

In this edition

 

• Global commodity markets were generally weak on expectations of lower demand
• The traditionally more defensive asset classes, such as core government bonds, outperformed
• In currency markets, the Japanese yen and US dollar were also notably strong over the month

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