MTS Help Center

CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:

- Total confirmed cases: More than 170,002 (+587)

- Total deaths: At least 6,523 (+8)

- Recovered: 77,778

- Affecting 157 countries and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship)

- US cases: At least 3,802 (+122), and deaths: 69 (+1)

- Italy cases: At least 24,747, and deaths: 1,809

- Iran cases: At least 13,938, and deaths: 724

· Germany will temporarily introduce border controls on its frontiers with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Denmark from Monday, the government said on Sunday as the country seeks to curb a rapid spread of coronavirus.

As of Sunday, there were 4,838 cases of coronavirus in Germany, with 12 deaths, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said. That was a sharp rise from 3,795 confirmed cases, with eight deaths, a day earlier.

· France and Spain joined Italy in imposing lockdowns on tens of millions of people, Australia ordered self-isolation of arriving foreigners and other countries extended entry bans as the world sought to contain the spreading coronavirus.

Several countries imposed bans on mass gathering, shuttered sporting, cultural and religious events, while medical experts urged people to practice “social distancing” to curb the spread.

· Argentina will close its borders for 15 days to non-residents in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, President Alberto Fernandez said on Sunday.

Public and private school classes would also be suspended until March 31, Fernandez said. National parks would also be closed.

The country has also temporarily stopped issuing visas to travelers from the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Britain and many European countries.

· Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday ordered businesses to close and citizens to remain in their homes in a “social quarantine” affecting six states and the capital, Caracas, starting on Monday to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

· Jordan confirmed 12 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, as the central bank announced measures to help troubled businesses and a tourism sector hit hard by the impact of the crisis.

The kingdom imposed measures on Saturday to fight the outbreak, including a tighter lockdown that closes all borders and bans all incoming and outgoing flights as of Tuesday.

Jordanian officials say the unprecedented measures, which also include closing schools and banning daily prayers in mosques were taken as the epidemic is spreading fast in neighboring Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

The government has kept borders open for commercial cargo and has assured people hoarding food that the country has a stockpile of commodities and essential goods that would last six months.

· China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that imported coronavirus cases involving travellers entering the country from abroad have become the main risk.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters during a briefing that health checks and quarantine measures are being imposed equally to Chinese nationals and foreigners entering China from overseas.

· South Korea reported 74 new coronavirus infections on Monday, slightly lower than the previous day, health officials said, taking the tally of cases to 8,236, with 75 deaths.

New infections have been on a declining trajectory, with the latest figures well below a Feb. 29 peak of 909, and slightly down from 76 on Sunday, but media said South Korea uncovered the second largest cluster in the area near its capital.

As many as 303 more patients have been released after a full recovery, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, for a total of 1,137 who have gone home.

· New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will sign an executive order that effectively closes restaurants, bars and cafes in the nation’s largest city to the public, limiting these establishments to takeout and delivery only in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Night clubs, movie theaters, small theater houses and concert venues will also close, according to de Blasio. The order goes into effect Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.

· Nike Inc, Lululemon Athletica Inc and Under Armour Inc on Sunday said they would close stores in the United States and other markets, joining a growing list of major retailers moving to help limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Nike on Sunday said it will close stores in Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand from March 16 to 27. It will continue normal operations at stores in South Korea, Japan, most of China and in many other countries.

Under Armour said it would shutter all North America stores from Monday for about two weeks. Lululemon said it would close its stores in North America and Europe for a similar period.

· The dollar fell against a broad range of currencies on Monday after the U.S. Federal Reserve made another surprise interest rate cut and major central banks took steps to relieve a shortage of dollars and provide extra liquidity.

Some analysts said the dollar’s decline was likely to be short-lived because the shortage of dollars in the global financial system meant there would be consistent long-term demand for the greenback in the spot market.

“The BOJ’s measures will provide some help to corporate financing, but unless there are matching steps from the government, banks will be reluctant to lend,” said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo.

“More companies want to hold their dollars in cash to facilitate payments, so if you hold dollars right now you have a big advantage.”

· The dollar fell 1.2% to 106.70 yen on Monday, widening its losses after the BOJ’s decision.

The greenback also fell 0.4% to $1.2338 per British pound.

Against the euro, the dollar was little changed at $1.1126.

The dollar eased 0.15% to 0.9493 Swiss franc.

· The Fed’s rate cut combined with the promise of more bond buying pushed U.S. 10-year Treasury yields down sharply to 0.68%, from 0.95% late on Friday.

· BOJ joins peers to fight coronavirus fallout, ramps up risky asset buying

The Bank of Japan eased monetary policy on Monday by pledging to buy risky assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETF) at double the current pace, joining global central banks in combating the widening economic fallout form the coronavirus epidemic.

The central bank also decided to create a new loan program to extend one-year, zero-rate loans to financial institutions in an effort to boost lending to firms hit by the virus outbreak.

At the meeting, the BOJ decided to buy ETFs at an annual pace of around 12 trillion yen ($112.55 billion), double the previous amount, until markets stabilize from the recent rout.

It will also double the pace of purchases for Japanese real-estate trust funds (J-REIT) to 180 billion yen per year, for the time being, the statement said.

The BOJ left unchanged its -0.1% short-term interest rate target and a pledge to guide long-term rates around 0%.

· USD/JPY drops back below 106.50 after BOJ boosts pace of ETF purchases

The BOJ's emergency monetary policy decision put a fresh bid under the yen, knocking-off USD/JPY back below106.50 after the initial whipsaw to 107.00. The BOJ kept the rates steady but increased the pace of ETF purchases. Fed unexpectedly cut rates to zero late Sunday.

In doing so, the yen pair fails to hold onto its recovery gains from Friday while also staying below 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of its fall from April 2019 and 200-day SMA.

That said, the pair currently declines towards 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level, around 105.45, whereas August 2019 low near 104.85 could become the bears’ favorite afterward.

On the upside, 61.8% of Fibonacci retracement, near 108.10, followed by a 200-day SMA of 108.25, act as the immediate upside barriers for the pair.

Should there be a sustained run-up past-108.25, buyers can aim for 109.50/55 ahead of January month high near 110.30.

· US Pres. Trump congratulates Fed for rates cut, calls action 'terrific'

Speaking at a White House news conference early Monday, US President Trump applauded Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Powell’s decision to cut interest rates further, aiming to stimulate the US economic growth amid the coronavirus pandemic, per Reuters.

Trump said: Fed’s decision on Sunday to cut interest rates was “good news” and “makes me very happy”.

The Fed cut interest rates by 100 basis points on Sunday to a target range of 0% to 0.25%, and promised to expand its balance sheet by at least $700 billion in coming weeks.

· South Korea’s central bank said on Monday it will hold an emergency policy-setting meeting following moves from other global central banks as the economy comes under pressure due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The emergency meeting will start at 4:30 p.m. (0730 GMT), the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a text message.

The BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol’s press conference will be live-streamed on YouTube from 6 p.m., while the bank will announce the rate decision as soon as it is made, the bank added.

· China’s coal output in the first two months of 2020 fell 6.3% from the same period a year earlier as the coronavirus outbreak stopped miners from getting back to work after the Lunar New Year holiday was extended in a bid to contain the epidemic.

China churned out 489.03 million tonnes of coal over January and February, down from 513.67 million tonnes in the same period last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

· The People's Bank of China on Monday pumped 100 billion yuan ($14.3 billion) into the financial system by offering one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to banks. On Friday, the central bank announced it would cut the amount of cash banks need to hold as reserves by 50 basis points, injecting around 550 billion yuan ($78.6 billion) into the economy. The RRR cut took effect on Monday.

The PBOC also said it would take other measures to lower borrowing costs to protect the economy that has been damaged by the coronavirus outbreak.

Separately, fresh data coming out of China showed the economy has been hit harder than expected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Retail sales plunged 20.5% in the January-to-February period from a year earlier, much worse than the forecast 0.8% rise by analysts polled by Reuters, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

Industrial output also fell 13.5% during the same period, while fixed asset investment plunged 24.5%, both widely missing estimates.

· Oil fell on Monday as an emergency rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve failed to soothe global financial markets panicked by the rapid spread of the coronavirus, while a price war between top producers added to a growing supply glut.

Brent crude fell $2.07 to $31.78 a barrel by 0729 GMT, extending last week’s plunge of 25%, which was the largest weekly fall since 2008. The front-month price opened at a high of $35.84 but slipped to a low of $31.63.

U.S. crude was at $30.35, down $1.38 after slipping below $30 earlier in the session, losing ground despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to fill strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) in the world’s largest oil consumer “to the top”.