GLOBAL MARKETS-Virus-hit stocks shed $3 trillion; safe havens thrive

* U.S. Treasury yields reach record-low 1.2940%
* Europe's STOXX 600 down 2.2%, E-minis down 0.3%
* Nikkei sinks 2%, leading Asia-wide share losses
* Oil prices fall to lowest in more than a year
* Microsoft warns on coronavirus impact
* Tracking the coronavirus: https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7

By Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Saikat Chatterjee
LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Stocks resumed their plunge,
wiping out more than $3 trillion in value this week alone, and
U.S. Treasuries yields hit record lows on Thursday as the
coronavirus spread faster outside China and investors fled to
safe havens.
The number of new coronavirus infections in China - the
source of the outbreak - was for the first time overtaken by
fresh cases elsewhere on Wednesday, raising pandemic fears.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index opened 2.3% lower
and Italy's blue-chip index .FTMIB sank. Dozens of European
companies have warned about potential damage to their profits.
In the United States, Microsoft MSFT.O became the second
trillion-dollar company to warn about its results after Apple.
X.Its Frankfurt-listed shares MSFT.F were down 4%.
Global equities .MIWD00000PUS have now fallen for six
straight days. Wall Street's so-called fear gauge .VIX was
near its late 2018 highs.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.5% to $1,649 per ounce and silver
XAG= gained 1% to $18.03 an ounce. Gold prices hit a
seven-year high at near $1,688 per ounce on Monday.
"Safe-haven currencies are doing very well and gold is
heading back higher, and unless we see a slowdown in the
coronavirus cases outside China, risk sentiment will continue to
be undermined," said Peter Kinsella, global head of FX strategy
at UBP in London
Meanwhile, the yield on U.S. Treasuries, which falls when
prices rise, dropped below 1.3% US10YT=RR and the yield curve
continued to send recession warnings.
Markets are pricing a roughly even chance of the Federal
Reserve will cut interest rates next month and have almost fully
priced in a cut by April. 0#FF:
Yields on benchmark German 10-year maturities DE10YT=RR
fell to -0.5140%. Italian debt underperformed as Europe's worst
flare-up of the virus in that country raised fears of a
recession there.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.3% ESc1 and
oil, sensitive to global growth, fell more than 1% to its
cheapest in over a year. O/R
Analysts have downgraded forecasts for Chinese and global
growth, and policymakers from Asia, Europe and the United States
have begun to prepare for a steeper economic downturn.
South Korean stocks .KS11 shed another 1.05% on Thursday,
closing at a four-month low, as it reported its largest daily
rise in new virus cases since first case last month.
Unnerving investors further, the Bank of Korea kept interest
rates unchanged on Thursday, even though it downgraded its
growth outlook. With the infections rate in China slowing, the blue-chip
CSI300 index .CSI300 finished up 0.3%. China's central bank
said on Thursday that it would ensure ample liquidity to help
limit the impact of the epidemic.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.5%, taking it more than 4% lower for the
week.
Taiwan raised its epidemic response level to the highest
possible. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2% to a four-month low amid
more worries the Tokyo Olympic Games would be cancelled or
shifted. .T
Safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Swiss
franc gained on Thursday with the Japanese currency heading
towards 110 yen to the dollar, up nearly 2% so far this week.
The dollar fell 0.32%.
That was enough to help drag the China-sensitive Aussie
dollar AUD=D3 from an 11-year low and lend support to the euro
EUR= . FRX/

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US stock futures https://tmsnrt.rs/2uzenVj
Daily market value loss https://tmsnrt.rs/3ceqFna
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