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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Britain’s FTSE 100 is hit by Covid-19 fears again

Introduction: European markets to tumble again
Overnight, president Trump claimed risks are ‘very low’
Australia has initiated its emergency plan

7.50am GMT
Investors are “vigilant and broadly fearful” of the growing coronavirus outbreak, despite Donald Trump’s statement on the crisis last night, says Kyle Rodda of IG:
The day turned pear-shaped after US President Donald Trump’s press conference addressing the White House’s response. Trump didn’t say anything too controversial, and spent most of his breath reassuring his constituents that the crisis, within American borders, is under control, despite the significant rise in cases reported in the US yesterday.
Despite this, and for whatever reason, traders reacted to the press-conference poorly, clearly assuming that the situation in the US will likely deteriorate from here.
The main takeaway was that the virus will “probably spread in the US”....
We think the next ‘breaking point’ will be when there is a big cluster of cases in the United States. Former Fed-Chair Yellen acknowledged yesterday that “it’s conceivable that coronavirus pushes US into a recession”.
7.38am GMT
This is turning into a grim week for the markets, even before Europe opens today.....
So Asia Pac stocks are now headed for the worst weekly loss in two years and we're not even through with Thursday pic.twitter.com/WA53gEHqh4
Latest Virus rout has wiped out $5tn in global mkt cap, equal to the GDP of Japan. pic.twitter.com/EutkmGnaHx Continue reading...