GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks plunge into bear market after U.S. travel restrictions, ECB moves

(Updates prices, changes byline, dateline from previous LONDON)
* MSCI All-Country World index off over 20% from recent peak
* European shares hit lowest since 2013
* Oil slumps, gold sinks, bitcoin plunges 25%
* Wall Street briefly halts trading; VIX hits highest since
2008

By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Global stocks plunged into a
bear market and oil slumped further on Thursday after stimulus
efforts from the European Central Bank failed to calm investors
alarmed by U.S. moves overnight to restrict travel from Europe
over the spread of the coronavirus.
Trading was halted for 15 minutes shortly after the open in
New York after the S&P 500 index fell more than 7%. It was
recently trading down 6.8%.
U.S. President Donald Trump restricted certain travel from
Europe to the United States in a televised address about the
health crisis on Wednesday, shocking investors and travelers,
and disappointing traders hoping to see broader measures to
fight the virus.
"It's not just the fear of the economy going weak, but
basically being on the brink of shutting down," said Dennis
Dick, proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.
"It's mass selling across the board (and) we are pricing in a
potential to go into another financial crisis."
Trump said the United States would suspend all travel from
Europe, except the United Kingdom and Ireland, for 30 days
starting on Friday. He later said trade would not be affected by
the restrictions. Worry spread far beyond stocks, with concern building over
companies' lines of credit and their ability to finance activity
in the short term. The European Central Bank approved fresh stimulus measures
and temporarily dropped banks' capital requirements to help the
euro zone cope with the shock of the pandemic, but kept interest
rates on hold, disappointing markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1,905.67
points, or 8.09%, to 21,647.55, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 187.32
points, or 6.83%, to 2,554.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
dropped 490.83 points, or 6.17%, to 7,461.22.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 9.89% and
emerging market stocks lost 6.63%. MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 5.78%
lower, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 lost 4.41%.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
7.40%, down more than 20% from its 52-week peak.
Investors also rushed into safe-haven assets, from bonds to
the yen. Bitcoin plunged 25%, amid wild volatility in
cryptocurrency markets. BTC=BTSP
The VIX volatility index .VIX - Wall Street's "fear gauge"
- and an equivalent measure of volatility for the Euro Stoxx 50
.V2TX hit their highest levels since the 2008 financial
crisis.
Fed fund rate futures 0#FF: are now pricing in a 1.0
percentage point cut, rather than 0.75, at a policy review next
week.
The euro weakened after the ECB stimulus announcement.
Demand for dollars via the currency derivative markets
surged to the highest levels in years in a sign that
coronavirus-induced economic stress is starting to manifest
itself in a broad scramble for funding in dollars. The dollar index =USD rose 0.996%, with the euro EUR=
down 1.08% to $1.1145.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.54% versus the greenback at
105.14 per dollar, while Sterling GBP= was last trading at
$1.2622, down 1.54% on the day.
Oil prices were also hit, compounded by an intensifying
price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, on top of fears of a
sharp slowdown in the global economy.
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 5.28% to $31.24 per barrel and Brent
LCOc1 was last at $33.48, down 6.45% on the day.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 3.2% to $1,582.31 an ounce.
Palladium XPD= dropped 14.0% to $1,982.02 an ounce.
Among industrial metals, copper CMCU3 lost 1.93% to
$5,422.50 a tonne.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR recently rose 1-10/32 in
price to yield 0.6908%, from 0.822% late on Tuesday.

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Global assets in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
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