The coronavirus continued to infect the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) today as businesses suffered with lower earnings guidance and more uncertainty.
Here are some of the highlights from today:
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cuts interest rate again
The RBA has made its last move with Australia's interest rate. The RBA cut its interest rate to 0.25% and said that that was the final move, there would be no more reductions.
Australia's central bank also said that it would offer a $90 billion lending facility to banks for small business and announced quantitative easing action which will include buying government bonds.
The RBA governor expects that the interest rate will be this low for some time. It will only rise again when its unemployment and inflation targets are met.
Travel continues to make headlines
Today, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) announced that it would be suspending all international travel until at least the end of May 2020.
The government announced that all non-residents would be banned from travelling to Australia.
Travel business Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) went into a trading halt this morning so that it could do a capital raising.
Extreme volatility remains
Whilst the overall market didn't actually move that much today, there were enormous moves for some shares:
The Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) share price fell 35%.
The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price dropped 33%.
The Cimic Group Ltd (ASX: CIM) share price declined by 31.3%.
The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price dropped 28.1%.
The Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) share price fell 24.9%.
It wasn't all bad, there were a few large risers too:
The Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) share price rose 16.1%.
The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price went up 9.3%.
The Brambles Limited (ASX: BXB) share price grew 8.6%.
