GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks set to slip on coronavirus fears, vaccine timing

By Suzanne Barlyn
NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - Asian equities were set to pull
back on Wednesday as heightened concerns about coronavirus
infections and the timing for a vaccine outweighed the lift from
rebounding oil prices and upbeat corporate earnings in Europe.
Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on
Tuesday warned lawmakers that a premature lifting of lockdowns
could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus,
which has killed 80,000 Americans and brought the economy to its
knees. "It looks like we're in for another negative day of trading
here in the Asia Pacific region," said Michael McCarthy, chief
market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. "It's very clear
that the containment has done economic damage and the recovery
will take years and not weeks," he said.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI .HSIc1 were up
0.37%, Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 slipped 1.26% and
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 fell 0.05% to be 1.13% below
Tuesday's cash index close.​
U.S. stocks dragged equity benchmarks lower after Fauci's
remarks, who also said that there was unlikely to be a treatment
or vaccine in place by late August or early September.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
1.89%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.05% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 2.06%.
The cautious mood was not helped by proposed legislation by
a leading U.S. Republican senator that would authorize President
Donald Trump to impose sanctions on China if it fails to give a
full account of events leading to the outbreak of the novel
coronavirus. The bill would give the president authority to impose a
range of sanctions, including freezing assets, travel bans and
visa revocations, as well as restrictions on loans to Chinese
businesses by U.S. institutions and bans on U.S. listings by
Chinese firms.
Stock markets have rebounded sharply in recent weeks as the
spread of the novel coronavirus slowed in some countries in Asia
and Europe, while parts of the U.S. economy began to reopen
after weeks of lockdowns.
MSCI's gauge of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.96% lower on Tuesday while its global
stock index .MIWD00000PUS shed 1.23%.
In commodity markets, oil prices rose after OPEC's de facto
leader, Saudi Arabia, said it would increase supply curbs in
June, while other members of the oil-producing group said they
want to extend the deep cuts reached in April for a longer
period than originally agreed.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures
settled at $25.78 a barrel, up $1.64, or 6.8%. Brent crude
LCOc1 futures settled at $29.98 a barrel, gaining 35 cents, or
1.2%. The dollar fell on Tuesday as the mood turned cautious a day
ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on
economic issues and as investors weighed the chances of negative
U.S. interest rates. Safe-haven assets such as government bonds moved higher as
investors edged away from riskier investments. Benchmark 10-year
U.S. Treasury notes US10YT=RR last rose 15/32 in price to
yield 0.6795.

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