Paris (AFP)

World markets remained stuck in the face of spectacular announcements from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on Monday, still panicked by the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

After series declines in Asia, Tokyo being the exception, however, thanks to the weakening of the yen and the take-off of SoftBank Group, Europe has also turned red, ending on very low levels.

Paris ended on a fall of 3.32%, Frankfurt of 2.23% and London of 3.79%. Milan fell 1.09% and Madrid 3.31%.

The debt market, for its part, ended on a very slight easing.

The pressure had eased by midday, however, when the Fed introduced a series of measures allowing many companies to access fresh money to survive the "serious economic upheavals" caused by the pandemic.

"The market sees what the states do, it sees the budgetary measures as well as the monetary measures on the part of the central banks, but for the moment it is always difficult to put a price on the final risk, that is to say to say how much the epidemic of coronavirus will cost the world economy ", analyzed with AFP Alexandre Baradez, analyst at IG France.

"So that he can specify the price of the risk, he must have a little more visibility on the evolution of the virus," he continued.

The Fed has announced that it will no longer set limits on purchases of treasury bills and mortgage securities.

The institution also said it would do anything to help markets continue to function, and launched a new $ 300 billion aid package to "support the flow of credit to employers, consumers and businesses."

She also promised to "soon set up a loan program for small and medium-sized businesses" which constitute the bulk of the American economic fabric.

Wall Street also did not respond to the announcements. The Dow Jones fell 3.04%, the lowest since November 2016, and the S&P 500 2.93%. The Nasdaq limited losses by falling only 0.27%.

The New York indices also suffered Monday from the political deadlock around economic stimulus measures in the United States, the United States Senate unable to agree on a text.

"These rapid and unprecedented declines illustrate how quickly we have moved from a slight public health fear to a global recession," said Stephen Innes, analyst for AxiCorps.

- "One of the worst semesters" -

The cases of contamination flamed Sunday in Europe, in particular in Italy where the situation turns to tragedy, and in the United States where the concern mounts with hospitals which are likely to be quickly overwhelmed.

Containment measures, which could be tightened on Monday in France, have also extended to Greece, the United States of New York and New Zealand, which the Central Bank has also announced a plan purchase of bonds.

Investors also had to contend with warnings on company results or announcements of drastic savings measures, as in Paris with TF1, Saint-Gobain, Airbus, Vinci, Total, Kering.

"There will be other warnings on results that will arrive in the days or weeks to come. The first semester will be one of the worst semesters of economic history in the 21st century," warned Alexandre Baradez.

Access to credit in the debt market for the most vulnerable companies is in particular closely monitored.

"Any quantitative estimate remains an exercise in highly random precision at this stage" and "certain economic statistics expected this week, such as weekly jobless claims (Thursday in the United States), could illustrate in concrete terms the enormous impact of the epidemic, "noted Tangi Le Liboux, a strategist with broker Aurel BGC.

On the exchange side, around 9:00 p.m. GMT, the euro gained 0.29% against the greenback, at 1.0724 dollars, after falling at the start of trade to 1.0636 dollars, a level seen more since April 2017.

Oil prices sailed in red for most of the day, but rose at the end of the session. The barrel of WTI, American benchmark gained 3.23% and the Brent took 0.19%.

bur-abx-jra-as / dho / lth

© 2020 AFP