(Bloomberg) — European stocks dropped as the region’s leaders struggled to agree to a long-term plan for cushioning the economic blow from the coronavirus. U.S. equity futures and Asian shares also slipped while Treasuries and the dollar gained.Travel and real estate shares dragged the Stoxx Europe 600 Index lower after European leaders signed off on a 540 billion-euro ($580 billion) plan tackling the immediate fallout from the pandemic, but failed to come up with a longer-term rebuilding program. Italian government bonds fell.Futures on the three main American equity gauges pointed to losses at the open while stocks from Tokyo to Shanghai retreated. Oil rose toward $17 a barrel in New York, after collapsing earlier this week.A global stock rally built on optimism that infection rates were slowing is beginning to fade amid mounting evidence of a deep economic slowdown. Total job losses in the U.S. now exceed 26 million, while an estimate of private-sector activity in the euro area plunged to the lowest since it began more than two decades ago.In China, there was limited reaction to the central bank’s partial roll-over of maturing medium-term funding to banks, at a lower interest rate.Hurting sentiment in the Thursday session on Wall Street was a report that Gilead Sciences Inc.’s antiviral drug remdesivir flopped in its first randomized clinical trial — though the company disputed that characterization.Japanese bonds rallied after a Nikkei report that the Bank of Japan may replace its government bond-purchase target to allow for unlimited buying.These were the main moves in markets:StocksThe Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 1.1% as of 8:20 a.m. London time.Germany’s DAX Index dipped 1.7%.Futures on the S&P 500 Index declined 0.2%.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.3%.The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.0736.The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2314.The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 107.73 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.59%.Britain’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to 0.264%.The spread of Italy’s 10-year bonds over Germany’s climbed 10 basis points to 2.506 percentage points.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.9% to $16.81 a barrel.Brent crude increased 2.3% to $21.83 a barrel.Gold weakened 0.1% to $1,729.59 an ounce.Copper fell 0.3% to $2.31 a pound.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
