Overview
The spread of COVID-19 outside of China and early signs of the economic consequences again emerged to weigh on investor sentiment. Poor Japanese and Australian preliminary February PMI reports and some trade indications from South Korea saw most Asia-Pacific equities sell off. China was an exception. The small gain (0.3%) lifted the Shanghai Composite 4.2% on the week. Australia's benchmark also managed to eke out a minor gain (~0.12%) for the week after absorbing today's (0.33%) loss. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 was nearly flat for the week coming into today's session, and despite