Reportedly Asia's factories took a beating in february from the coronavirus outbreak with activity in china shrinking at a record pace, surveys showed on monday, raising the prospect of a co-ordinated policy response by central banks to prevent a global recession. China's factory activity suffered the sharpest contraction on record in february, the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed, underlining the crippling effects of tough travel curbs and public health measures taken to contain the outbreak.
Meanwhile that followed the Chinese government's similarly dire PMI release on the weekend, which also showed a record pace of decline. Furthermore the slump in the world's second-largest economy dealt a severe blow to factories across Asia, including those in japan, South korea and taiwan, offering the clearest evidence yet of the epidemic's damaging effects on global growth and businesses.
Fears the virus would wreak havoc on the global economy sent financial markets into a tailspin last week and raised expectations of co-ordinated monetary policy action by central banks to mitigate the fallout. Trillions of dollars were wiped off equity markets, with world shares posting their biggest weekly decline since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. Also Japan's PMI showed its factory activity was hit by the sharpest contraction in nearly four years in february, reinforcing expectations the economy may have slipped into recession.
