Markets struggle as coronavirus pummels economies worldwide – Gulf Today

  • Date: 31-Jul-2020
  • Source: Gulf Today
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:Gulf
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Markets struggle as coronavirus pummels economies worldwide – Gulf Today

Markets struggle as coronavirus pummels economies worldwide

2 hours ago

A man walks in front of a store in Ibiza on Friday. Spain plunged into recession in the second quarter after its gross domestic product tumbled by 18.5%. Agence France-Presse

World stock markets ended the week on a low note on Friday in the face of almost unremitting bad news of rapidly-shrinking economic activity, highlighting the "devastating impact“ coronavirus has had on the global economy, analysts said.

A tweet from US President Donald Trump suggesting delaying November's elections also jolted investors, helping send the euro soaring to a two-year peak.

But it was the huge drops in April-June economic activity -- a contraction of one third in the United States while Europe faces its worst recession in a quarter of a century -- which were proving hardest to swallow as main indices all lost further ground to cap a miserable week.

And more of the same is likely to follow.

Markets are struggling to digest massive double-digit falls in economic output as well as a swathe of mostly grim corporate earnings -- tech giants aside -- which only further highlighted the damage done by the virus.

France's economy contracted by a record 13.8 per cent in