Asian stocks rise, backslide after Trump promises virus aid

Major Asian stock markets fell back after early gains on Wednesday after Wall Street jumped on President Donald Trump's promise of aid to get U.S. ecomy through coronavirus outbreak. Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong all vanced and n fell. Australia's main index fell 6.4% and smaller Asian markets also were mostly lower.

White House proposal could approach $1 trillion in spending to ward off pressure of business closures to contain virus. Federal Reserve anunced more measures to keep financial markets operating.

On Wall Street, benchmark S&P 500 index rose by an unusually wide daily margin of 6%, regaining just under half of previous day's history-making loss. Professional investors expect more big daily swings in both directions until spreing virus is brought under control.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Trump wants to send checks to Americans in next two weeks to help support m while more parts of ecomy come closer to shutting down.

proposal would include $250 billion for small businesses and $50 billion for airlines.

That is a good start but investors need to see number of infections slow before markets can find a bottom, analysts said. number of new cases reported in China, where virus emerged in December, is declining but infections in United States, Europe and elsewhere are increasing.

re are "green shoots of risk appetite emerging, and some furr concerning aspects,” said Chris Weston of Pepperstone Group in a report. “I am t going to call a bottom in risk story by any means.”

Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2% to 2,772.91 and Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 1.1% to 16,826.99. Hong Kong's Hang Seng skidded 1.5% to 22,918.46.

Those three markets account for bulk of region's stock value.

Kospi in Seoul slumped 2.2% to 1,634.97. Australia's S&P-ASX 200 fell to 4,953.20.

Market benchmarks in New Zealand and Singapore rose 1% while Manila fell 7.9%. Bangkok surged 2.8%.

For most people, coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and those with mild illness recover in about two weeks. Severe illness including pneumonia can occur, especially in elderly and people with existing health problems, and recovery could take six weeks in such cases.

On Tuesday, European stocks swung from gains to losses and back to gains.

On Wall Street, S&P 500 rose to 2,529.10. It still is down 25.3% from last month's record.

Dow Jones Industrial Aver vanced 5.2% to 21,237.38. A day earlier, Dow lost nearly 3,000 after Trump said a recession may be on way.

virus has spre so quickly that its effects haven’t shown up in much U.S. ecomic data yet.

On Tuesday, a report showed retail sales weakened in February, when ecomists expected a gain. A separate report a day earlier showed manufacturing in state of New York contracting.

“ global recession is here and w,” S&P Global ecomists wrote in a report Tuesday.

In energy markets, U.S. benchmark crude lost 27 cents to $26.68 per barrel in electronic tring on New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.75 to $26.95 on Tuesday.

Brent crude, international standard, gained 6 cents to $28.79 per barrel.

dollar declined to 107.03 yen from 107.67 late Tuesday. euro gained to $1.1045 from $1.0996.