NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold rose and the dollar hit a four-month high against the euro on Monday on safe-haven appeal as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak passed that of the SARS epidemic two decades ago, but Wall Street rallied to record highs.
Worries about the coronavirus kept investors on edge, as the World Health Organization warned transmission of the deadly virus among people who have not visited China could be “the spark that becomes a bigger fire.”
Deal talks and a rally in defensive sectors helped the broad pan-European STOXX 600 index close up 0.07%, while Wall Street rebounded on the outlook for earnings and the economy, spurring the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record closing highs.
Weak economic data in the eurozone made the dollar relatively more attractive than the single currency, especially considering Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report showing an acceleration in job growth in January.
Data on Monday revealed Italian industrial output was much weaker than expected in December, another setback for the euro after data on Friday showed German industrial output suffered its biggest fall since recession-hit 2009.
A gauge of global equity markets rose, lifted by U.S. stocks after Wall Street rebounded, while key indexes for London, Paris and Frankfurt declined, weighed down on concerns about the extent of the coronavirus.
“We have the safe-haven bid from the coronavirus. That is killing EM and really benefiting the dollar, and to a lesser extent the yen and Swiss,” said Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.24%, and emerging market stocks lost 0.46%. In Europe, automakers, among the most exposed to China, fell 0.8%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones
