Bond markets are also taking a hit, with the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury trading at 1.347%. In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 declined 1.2%.

The big purge underway in the financial markets was expected by many observers. After all, the performance of the indices was quite suspicious in recent weeks as signals of economic disruption were multiplying because of the coronavirus. But investors are now wondering what's the next step.

The stock market panic is due to the emergence of new hot spots of infection, which show that parts of the world that seemed relatively safe are not. Above all, these outbreaks introduced a new paradigm in the minds of populations, especially in the West: "the epidemic can reach me". Going against Donald Trump’s twitter statements, the US health authorities (CDC) said last night that the coronavirus epidemic is likely to spread in the United States and that private and public organizations should prepare precautionary plans.

Economically, downward revisions of corporate targets will continue. State organizations will start to revise their growth expectations. Macroeconomic statistics will be bad. Supply shortages may even be expected. And who do you think investors will turn to as a result of this catastrophic sequence? The U.S. central bank, of course. When there is no more hope and other options have been ruled out, the Fed has become the markets' lifeline. We'll definitely talk about this in the days to come.

To finish on a less pessimistic note, the Chinese authorities still deplored 52 deaths yesterday, but this is the lowest level in three weeks, with a plateau that tends to be confirmed on the number of people infected, taking into account people that have healed. The WHO has also welcomed the way in which the local authorities have caught up with their efforts to contain the epidemic. The number of active cases in the world, i.e. the number of patients infected to date, is declining to 48,183 compared to 58,747 at the peak on February 17 (source: Worldmeters, in the "active cases" box): this is obviously largely due to China, but it proves that vigorous measures are achieving results. The evolution of statistics in Korea and Italy will make it possible to gauge the effectiveness of care in countries that are advanced but do not have totalitarian prerogatives (paradoxically, public opinion seems to think, after having widely criticized Beijing's management of the crisis, that other countries will not be able to do as well).

Next door, the Hong Kong government has just unveiled a series of measures to combat the economic slowdown. The territory that used to face protests must now oppose the spread of the coronavirus. These include the introduction of state-guaranteed low-interest loans, a tax exemption for the most disadvantaged households, the distribution of HKD 10,000 to permanent residents over the age of 18, an increase in the budget for hospitals, etc. The total amount is estimated at HKD 120 billion and the budget deficit will amount to HKD 37.8 billion, a first in 15 years.

In Europe, after Italy, COVID-19 is moving up Europe. The first case in Switzerland threatens the Geneva Motor Show, which is scheduled to start next week. In France, three new patients have been identified, including one who died overnight. Across the Rhine, two new patients have been discovered near the Belgian border.

In other news, yesterday was the 10th democratic debate of the primaries. Bernie Sanders was the favorite target of the 6 other guests. The favorite candidate was attacked in particular on the cost of his proposals or on his recent commentary on Fidel Castro.

Finally, Europe, China, Russia and Iran met in Vienna today to discuss the nuclear deal. Iran, under US sanctions, had suspended part of its commitments (to the Vienna agreements). The meeting aims to find an agreement for Tehran to realign itself with the previously agreed objectives. If nothing is found, the UN could reinstate the sanctions that had been lifted at the time of the previous agreement.

Today on the agenda, we have new Home Sales figures and weekly Oil Inventories in the US, with two interventions by Fed central bankers at public events.