GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks sink as coronavirus lockdowns loom

* Euro STOXX 600 down 2.8% to five-month low
* Germany and France prepare to announce restrictions
* Wall Street futures point to losses
* Euro down 0.6% versus dollar
* Currency market volatility jumps before U.S. election
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Global stocks and the euro
tumbled on Wednesday as coronavirus infections rose in Europe
and the United States, igniting fears of strict lockdowns that
would damage already fragile economic recoveries.
European shares .STOXX fell 2.8% to their lowest since
late May as Germany and France prepared to announce restrictions
approaching the level of last spring's lockdowns, as COVID-19
deaths across Europe rose almost 40% in a week.
French shares .FCHI were among the hardest hit, losing
3.2% to a five-month low. Investors were rattled by a media
report that France might impose a national lockdown from
midnight on Thursday. In Frankfurt, German stocks GDAXI. slumped 3.1% to their
lowest since June. Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to meet
state premiers to discuss closing restaurants and bars and
allowing people to go out in public only with members of their
own household. The gloomy news pummeled stocks seen as especially sensitive
to the economy. Automakers .SXAP and banks .SX7P led the
losses, falling 3.9% and 2.1% respectively.
Concerns over a second wave of infections played out in
currency and bond markets, too, with the euro EUR=EBS slumping
0.6% against the dollar to $1.1736. German government bond
yields DE10YT=RR fell to their lowest since March.
Wall Street futures ESc1 YMc1 NQc1 pointed to losses
for U.S. stocks of 1.1% to 1.8%.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 49 countries, fell 0.6%.
The United States, Russia, France and others have seen
record numbers of infections in recent days with European
governments introducing new curbs that investors fear could maul
fragile recoveries. "The appetite of the different countries' authorities to
enforce new lockdowns - that's the point of discrimination
between good market performance and bad market performance,"
said Alessia Berardi, senior economist at Amundi. "The second
wave is now clearly very strong in Europe."
Asian shares lost ground after initially showing some
resilience, in part due to more limited COVID-19 outbreaks and
better recoveries in the region's major economies.
MSCI's ex-Japan Asia index .MIAPJ0000PUS lost 0.1%,
turning negative even after China .CSI300 and South Korea
.KS11 made gains.
Wall Street saw a mixed day on Tuesday, with the S&P 500
.SPX losing 0.3% but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
climbing 0.6%.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com AMZN.O , and Google-parent
Alphabet GOOGL.O report later this week, closely watched
because they have been among the few winners from the pandemic.

ELECTION UNCERTAINTY
Adding to the mood of uncertainty is the Nov. 3 U.S.
presidential election.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has enjoyed a consistent
lead over President Donald Trump. Investors cautiously bet on
his victory and possibly a "blue wave" outcome, where Democrats
take back the Senate as well.
But Wall Street's volatility index .VIX , a measure of
market expectations in share price swings, rose to 36.54, its
highest since early September.
That reflects wariness that the election outcome itself
could be contested, some market players say. An unclear result
would leave expectations of a U.S. fiscal stimulus package to
counter the coronavirus pandemic in limbo.
"It is not yet clear that we will have a winner at this time
(next week) as many State Secretaries and voting commissions are
hedging their bets that they will indeed be able to project the
winner by next Wednesday morning," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote.
The uncertainty was apparent in currency markets, too:
One-week implied volatility indicators for the euro and the yen
rose to their highest in nearly seven months. The
same measure of volatility for the Chinese yuan CNHSWO= also
spiked, hitting its highest since January 2016.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar =USD gained
0.4%.
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets, please click on: LIVE/

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