Stock markets<\/strong><\/p>\n The global stock rout extended on Thursday, while the yen climbed and bond yields tumbled after president Trump’s travel ban announcement, Bloomberg<\/a> <\/strong>reported.<\/p>\n Oil prices tumbled again, with Brent crude off around 6% to approximately a $34 a barrel.<\/p>\n Global equities are now on course for the second-worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008, only eclipsed by the rout in the last week of February.<\/p>\n Moves did ease somewhat as the Asian trading day wore on, however European equity futures tumbled more than 8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq contracts slumped by the daily limit after Trump unveiled steps including lending aid for small businesses and asked Congress to pass undefined payroll-tax relief.<\/p>\n \u201cRecession risk is rising and we are nowhere near pricing that in,\u201d said Sue Trinh, global macro strategist at Manulife Investment Management in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n “All the \u2018solutions\u2019 we are seeing from the powers that be are reminiscent of the great financial crisis, but what\u2019s more important is resources for the virus fight,” she said.<\/p>\n Pandemic<\/strong><\/p>\n The WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction, said director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a media briefing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic, he said.<\/p>\n “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Bear.jpg\")
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