By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

Shares fell in Europe and Asia on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. was stepping up its efforts to combat the virus outbreak that began in China, as the number of cases surpassed 81,000.

Germany's DAX lost 2.2% to 12,498.88 and the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 2.3% to 5,59.99. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 2.5% to 6,869.80. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 26,779.00 and the future contract for the S&P 500 was 0.6% lower, at 3,092.20.

 

Trump told reporters late Wednesday that he was open to spending “whatever's appropriate” to fight the virus, after the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York suggested $8.5 billion instead of the requested $2.5 billion. He put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the response to the virus outbreak.

Trump said he didn't believe a pandemic was inevitable, though health officials standing beside him warned more infections are coming. And shortly after Trump spoke, the government announced that another person in the U.S. was infected - someone in California who appears not to have the usual risk factors of having traveled abroad or being exposed to another patient.

Traders are concerned the global economy could stumble as major industrial countries struggles to contain the outbreak. News of hundreds of new infections in China and elsewhere helped pull share prices lower Thursday in Asia.

“Previous crisis playbooks have all revolved around buying the dip in equities, so I wonder just how much further the fire sale will go before the market at least starts to scale in again," Stephen Innes of AxiCorp. said in a report. “But based on last night's price action, it does appear that any bounce in stocks is likely to be short-lived. And eventually, the markets could fall deeper as investors start to think what's the point of trying to pick the bottom in the short term."

Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 2.1% to 21,948.23, while in Australia, the S&P ASX/200 dropped 0.8% to 6,657.90. Hong Kong's climbed 0.3% to 26,778.62.

In South Korea, where 334 new cases of the virus were reported, the Kospi dropped 1.1% to 2,054.89. The central bank downgraded its growth estimate for 2020 to 2.1% from 2.3% and said the virus outbreak would have a short-term impact on business activity, after the economy expanded at its slowest pace in a decade last year. The Bank of Korea kept its key policy rate unchanged, at its current record low 1.25%.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1% to 2,991.33, while shares fell in Taiwan and most of Southeast Asia. Thailand's benchmark rose 1.5% after tumbling 5.1% on Wednesday following reports of newly discovered virus cases.

Investors have been moving more money from stocks into bonds in the wake of the outbreak.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 1.29% Thursday, down from 1.34%. The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill edged up to 1.51%. The inversion in the yield between the 10-year and the 3-month Treasurys is a red flag for investors because it has preceded the last seven recessions.

Benchmark crude gave up 60 cents to $48.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday it lost $1.17 to settle at $48.73 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, shed 63 cents to $52.18 per barrel. It dropped $1.52 to close at $53.43 a barrel in London.

Gold climbed $7.60 to $1,650.70 per ounce, silver rose 17 cents to $18.01 per ounce and copper fell 2 cents to $2.58 per pound.

The dollar fell to 109.89 Japanese yen from 110.40 yen on Wednesday. The euro strengthened to $1.0942 from $1.0884.

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