GLOBAL MARKETS-Equities sink, gold rises on fears of pandemic wave

By David Randall
NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters) - Rising concerns about the
coronavirus pandemic accelerating sent global equities lower
Wednesday and pushed investors into perceived safe havens such
as the dollar and gold, which hovered near its highest level in
eight years.
Several U.S. states are posting record infections and the
death toll in Latin America passed 100,000, according to a
Reuters tally. The New York Times reported the European Union was prepared
to bar U.S. travelers because of the surge of cases, putting it
in the same category as Brazil and Russia. Adding to the gloom, European Central Bank chief economist
Philip Lane warned that the euro zone economy would need a long
time to recover from the pandemic-induced crisis and a string of
solid data in recent days was not necessarily a good guide to
recovery. And the United States is considering tariffs on $3.1 billion
of exports from Britain, France, Spain and Germany, Bloomberg
news reported, citing a notice published by the office of the
U.S. Trade Representative. "With rising daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. remaining
front page news, the headlines are proving to be a weighty
burden to bear this morning," Stephen Innes, chief global market
strategist at AxiCorp, said.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.83% following broad declines in Europe and Asia. The MSCI
index has tread water in recent weeks after rising more than 40%
from March lows on hopes the worst of the pandemic was over.
In morning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI fell 235.53 points, or 0.9%, to 25,920.57, the
S&P 500 .SPX lost 21.03 points, or 0.67%, to 3,110.26 and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 27.82 points, or 0.27%, to
10,103.55.
The International Monetary Fund said it now expects global
output to shrink by 4.9% this year, compared with a 3.0%
contraction predicted in April. A recovery in 2021 also will be
weaker, with global growth forecast at 5.4% for the year
compared to 5.8% in the April forecast. The dollar index =USD rose 0.333%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.34% to $1.1268.
"The dollar and risk sentiment are likely to remain broadly
negatively correlated, barring the U.S. displaying clear and
enduring leadership in the global economic recovery, something
hard to square with the grim U.S. news on COVID," said Ray
Attrill, head of FX strategy at NAB.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.1% to $1,764.97 an ounce after
touching $1,773, its highest level since October 2012 in Asian
trade. U.S. government bonds were little changed. Benchmark 10-year
notes US10YT=RR last fell 3/32 in price to yield 0.7185%, from
0.709% late on Tuesday.
Oil prices were down as record high inventories and concerns
about the pandemic outweighed signs of rising demand. O/R
U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 1.34% to $39.83 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $42.22, down 0.96% on the day.

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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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