Asian Markets Plunge Friday, After Wall Street’s Worst Day in 30 Years

Asian markets plunged Friday, one day after Wall Street’s worst performance since the “Black Monday” crash of 1987.Stock indexes in Japan, Thailand and India dropped as much as 10% at one point Friday morning, triggering the circuit breaker rule, or the temporary halt of trading in Thailand and India.SET 100 in Bangkok was down 8.7% and the Sensex in Mumbai was down 9.4% after trading resumed.The drop wasn’t as severe in mainland China, where communities are recovering from the deadly coronavirus pandemic, with the Shanghai Composite index down 3%.Other Asian regional markets dropped between 4% and 6% by midday Friday.Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks March 3, 2020. In a surprise move, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a sizable half-percentage point in an effort to support the economy in the face of the spreading coronavirus.Fed rally short-livedIn the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,353 points Thursday — a 10% drop. The Standard & Poor’s-500 and NASDAQ were also off 10%.European markets were also hit hard. London was down 11% while major French and German indexes took a 12% hit.Brazil’s Ibovespa index closed 15% lower.Trading in New York was automatically stopped for 15 minutes when stock prices dropped like a stone shortly after the markets opened Thursday.The markets rallied briefly after the Federal Reserve said it would ease what it called “highly unusual disruptions” in the usually reliable U.S. treasuries. But the optimism quickly went away.Travel and airline stocks took the biggest hits and the price of oil dropped again, in part because less travel means less demand.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyRecession fearsAnalysts say the ever-growing list of closings, cancellations and restrictions because of the coronavirus means less consumer spending, a slower global economy, and investor fears of a recession.But many financial experts say fear is what is driving the new bear market — fear of where the coronavirus is going to go next and warnings from the World Health Organization and U.S. experts that the pandemic is going to get worse before it gets better.Advice from veteran investors include telling their clients to look for bargain-priced stocks and buy them — and consider investing in companies that can withstand global economic shocks, including insurance firms and manufacturers of consumer staples.
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