* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Tracking the coronavirus: https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7
* Asian stocks fall; CDC warns Americans on virus
* Treasury yields hit record low
* Dollar left damaged by bond market rally
* Oil rises on hopes output cuts to support market
By Stanley White
TOKYO, March 6 (Reuters) - Asian shares and U.S. stock
futures tumbled on Friday as disruptions to business from the
coronavirus worsened, stoking fears of a prolonged global
economic slowdown.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 2.1%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index
.N225 sank 2.94%. Australian shares .AXJO were down 2.44%.
Europe looked set to follow Asia lower, with Euro Stoxx 50
futures STXEc1 shedding 2.44%, Germany's DAX futures FDXc1
down 2.33%, and FTSE futures FFIc1 off 1.94%.
U.S. stock futures ESc1 erased early gains to trade down
1.21%.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell to a record low and
Treasury futures jumped as investors increased bets that the
Federal Reserve will follow this week's surprise 50 basis point
rate cut with further easing to prevent corporate bond spreads
from widening further.
Rapidly falling yields hammered the dollar, which fell to a
six-month low versus the yen and close to a two-year trough
against the Swiss franc.
Oil prices also fell due to worries that non-OPEC oil
producers might not agree to output cuts even though global
energy demand is weakening.
The spread of the coronavirus has accelerated so much in
Europe, Britain and North America that investors who once played
down the virus or thought it would be largely confined to Asia
are now re-assessing the risks, which means more volatility in
financial markets.
"Given the pace of U.S. inflation, yields are too low and I
certainly don't want to buy Treasuries at this level," said
Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in
Tokyo.
"But the fact that other people are buying shows very strong
desire to escape from risk. This is a panic."
Shares in China CSI300. fell 1.22%, while stocks in Hong
Kong .HIS , another city hard hit by the virus, fell 2.12%.
BUSINESS DISRUPTIONS GROWING
The S&P 500 .SPX tumbled 3.39% on Thursday. The benchmark
has skidded more than 10% from its Feb. 19 closing high, and
last week saw its biggest weekly percentage decline since
October 2008.
Officials and companies in Britain, France, Italy, and the
United States are struggling to deal with a steady rise in virus
infections that have in some cases triggered corporate defaults,
office evacuations, and panic buying of daily necessities.
The flu-like virus emerged late last year in the central
Chinese city of Wuhan and has since spread to more than 80
countries. It has claimed more than 3,000 lives, and though new
infections have slowed in China there are concerns other
countries are not prepared.
Travel restrictions and factory closings aimed at curbing
the spread of the virus are expected to pressure global growth.
Many investors were awaiting the release of U.S. non-farm
payrolls later on Friday. Recent U.S. economic data has been
encouraging, but concerns about the epidemic are likely to
overshadow any signs of a strong labour market.
The Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada both responded to the
economic threats by cutting interest rates by 50 basis points
this week.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR
fell to a record low of 0.8100% on Friday. The two-year yield
US2YT=RR skidded to 0.4810%, the lowest since April 2015.
Treasury futures TYv1 , normally subdued in Asia, rose by
25 ticks.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said
late on Thursday the Fed could cut rates further if needed.
Money markets are pricing in another 25 basis-point-cut from
the current 1% to 1.25% range at the next Fed meeting on March
18-19 and a 50-basis-point cut by April.
Against the Japanese yen JPY= , the dollar fell to a
six-month low and was last at 105.84 yen. The greenback also
sank to a two-year trough of 0.9438 Swiss franc CHF=EBS .
Sterling GBP=D3 traded near a one-week high versus the
dollar.
The euro EUR=EBS held steady at $1.1232. Markets in the
euro zone are pricing in a 93% chance that the European Central
Bank will cut its deposit rate, now minus 0.50%, by 10 basis
points next week.
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 1.13% to $45.38 a barrel, while Brent
LCOc1 fell 1.12% to $49.43, with worries about a decline in
global demand due to the virus outbreak and uncertainty about
production cuts hurting prices. O/R