- Major stock markets sell off
Last week saw the biggest fall in share prices of any since the global financial crisis in 2008, as traders woke
up to the likely knock-on impact of the virus on global corporate revenues and profits.
The MSCI World is an equity index that reflects the share price performance of medium and large firms
across the world.
It fell by more than 10 cent in the week to last Friday, erasing some $6 trillion (£4.6 trillion) in value from
the value of listed corporations.
That will have inflicted a big paper loss on almost everyone saving in stock markets for their pensions.
- Interest rates cut
The Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, cut the official short-term rate of borrowing for the US
economy by 0.5 percentage points on Tuesday to a range of 1 to 1.25 per cent.