Global equities dip at end of best month since 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters): World equity benchmarks dipped last week to close their best month in 11 years as a rebound in oil prices, encouraging early results from a COVID-19 treatment trial and expectations of more government stimulus helped ease the pain of February and March.

Safe-haven assets including the dollar and government bonds were little changed, reflecting an unsettled market weighed down by concerns about containing the coronavirus outbreak and jobs data in the United States that was worse than expected.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.79% following broad losses in Europe and gains in Asia that pushed Japan’s Nikkei to a seven-week high.

The index gained 10.5% in April, its best month since an 11.3% gain in April 2009 as the markets were recovering from the 2008 financial crisis.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 288.14 points, or 1.17%, to 24,345.72, the S&P 500 lost 27.08 points, or 0.92%, to 2,912.43 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 25.16 points, or 0.28%, to 8,889.55.