Markets in Europe are trading lower Monday as investors await further signs on the direction the global economy will take amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The benchmark indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt, Germany were all under one percent by the early afternoon session, coming on the heels of the mixed results in Asia hours earlier. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished down under one percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX finished 2.3% lower.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished flat, while the KOSPI in Seoul closed down nearly one percent and Shanghai’s index was one-half of one percent higher.
Meanwhile, the bottom continued to fall out of oil markets, with the U.S. benchmark West Texas crude dropping 28% to $13.01 per barrel, the worst levels since 1999, while the international benchmark Brent crude was down 3.7% to just over $27 per barrel.
All three major U.S. indexes were trading well under one percent lower hours before Monday’s opening bell on Wall Street.
