World markets tumbles due to coronavirus as British man dies in Japan

A British man, Australian man  who was on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship has died from Coronavirus, according to Japan’s health ministry. He is the first British person to die from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. Hundreds of people on board the liner became infected while it was held in quarantine off the port of Yokohama in Japan – and six have since died. The Coronavirus related cases in the UK rose to 36. Prime Minister  Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee on Monday in response to a growing number of cases in Europe. A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, which operates the Diamond Princess ship, offered ” sincere condolences to family members and friends for their loss. A group of 30 British nationals and two Irish citizens were flown back to the UK from the cruise ship last Saturday. They were taken on coaches to Arrow  Park Hospital in Wirral where they are spending two weeks in isolation. The cruise liner, which had 3, 711 passengers on board, was put under quarantine in Yokohama in early February 2020 after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was found to have the virus. The World Health Organisation warned that the outbreak had reached a ” decisive point” and had  ” pandemic potential”.  168 Britons were among hundreds of guests confined to the Costa Adeje Palace Hotel in Tenerife earlier this week. 

Iran death toll has reached 54. Italy death toll has reached 34 and people affected  have exceeded  1700.

Public Health Wales said it was working to identify close contacts of the Welsh patient who is believed to be from the Swansea area and was infected in northern Italy before returning to the UK. 

The Scottish government announced Scotland’s first covet-19  positive patient who had recently returned from Italy.

The US has reported the first death  a 50-year-old man from the new coronavirus in the state of Washington’s King County.

The Paris Louvre Museum remains shut amid concerns over France’s coronavirus outbreak. On Saturday the French government banned all indoor gatherings of  more than 5000 people in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. France reported  two people have died and 100 cases of Covid-19 disease.

Switzerland also banned all gatherings and cancelled the General Motor show and the Basel Carnival.

In Ireland Mens’and Women’s Six Nations Rugby against Italy in Dublin next weekend.

President Donald Trump  said more cases were likely but added that US is prepared for any circumstance.

A 78-year-old Australian man from Perth died after being infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan last month, where over 160 Australians were evacuated from the cruise liner last month.

According to the World Health Organisation  globally more than 85, 000 coronavirus cases have been reported wit over 3000 deaths, the majority in China’s Hubei province..

UK’s FTSE 100  shares suffers the biggest one-week drop  -12.4 per cent   wiping out £210bn off the value of the shares listed on of the UK’s blue chip index including £58bn wiped out on Friday alone since the financial crisis amid coronavirus fears.

Bank Of England governor Mark Carney warned that the coronavirus outbreak could lead to a downgrade of the UK’s economic growth prospects.

In all over 130 listed firms in the UK had warned about the effects of the coronavirus on their business including  travel companies and drink makers, with both British Airways, IAG, Diageo which makes Guinness .

The Dow Hones, hit by its biggest ever daily points drop on Thursday fell another 3.7 per cent in morning trade as fears over the impact of the coronavirus continued to scare investors.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were more than 3  per cent lower in morning trade in New York. All European share indexes saw big falls on Friday, with Germany’s Dax index down 4.4 per cent, France’s Cac 40 index falling 3.9 per cent. Even Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 3.76 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite index falling 3.7 per cent on Friday.

Meanwhile, The US and European stocks have slumped again yesterday as selling pressure driven by the coronavirus produced the worst week for markets since they were in the grip of economic crises as the S&P posted its poorest week since the depths of global financial crisis in 2009 falling 2 per cent by midday in New York and reaching a 10 percent decline since a peak last week. The Stoxx 600 index of European shares dropped 3.4 per cent  to lodge a similar decline for the week, leaving European markets set for their worst week since the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis in 2011. London’s FTSE 100 fell by 3.5 per cent.

Northern Ireland announced its first coronavirus case yesterday taking the UK total to 20, Japan issued defacto order for all schools to close for more than a month from Monday. On a visit to a Paris hospital where a 60-year-old man died from the virus this week, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president said: “ We have a crisis before us, An epidemic is on its way”.

In the US debt markets, investors increased their bets on an imminent US interest rate cut, pushing the yield on the three-month Treasury bill down 9 basis points to 1.141 per cent lower than the Federal Reserve’s policy rate of 1.5-1.75 per cent. Fed rate-setters are due to meet next on March 17-18.

Microsoft has updated its financial guidance for this quarter   FYQ” 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus on the sale of PCs and tablets Surface Pro by OEMs. Microsoft says that despite strong Windows demand “ the supply chain is returning to normal operations at a slower pace than anticipated and therefore we do not expect to meet our more personal computing segment guidance”.

Apple also issued a profit warning over coronavirus as one of the first companies to speak about the financial impact of Coronavirus outbreak, by warning that revenues are likely to fall in the first quarter of 2020 due to the disruption.

Oil prices continued to tumble with the global benchmark Brent crude down 3 per cent at $51.88  a barrel. Haven assets rose again with gold adding 0.6 per cent  to $1.650 per ounce.