BEIJING — Asian stock markets tumbled Friday after soaring U.S. job losses tempered enthusiasm about a possible deal to stabilize oil prices amid anxiety over the global economic decline due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some markets followed Wall Street higher in early trading after President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he expected major oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia to back away from their price-cutting war. But by midday, all major Asian markets had retreated. U.S. unemployment numbers were a “hard dose of economic reality” for markets, Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a report. Government data showed 6.6 million initial U.S. jobless claims this week, double the previous week's record-breaking figure.

Source: International New York Times April 03, 2020 05:48 UTC