Markets fall, declines “most probably not over yet”

Markets fell on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 tumbled 3.5 percent.

Earlier in Asia, both the Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 plunged 3.7 percent.

Analysts at UniCredit Bank said that with no sign that the COVID-19 outbreak is levelling off, the decline in markets “is most probably not over yet”.

US stocks managed to recover partially from earlier heavy losses after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that the central bank is “closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook”.

Indeed, some analysts see the likelihood of a rate cut from the Fed soon.

“It’s definitely a signal of a March cut,” said Julia Coronado, a former Fed staffer and now president of MacroPolicy Perspectives.

Bank of America sees a half percentage point cut in March “to stem the panic in markets and support economic sentiment.”