European markets sink as US coronavirus death toll rises

1 Apr, 2020 07:15 / Updated 6 seconds ago Get short URL European markets sink as US coronavirus death toll rises © Reuters / Ferran Paredes 47 Follow RT onRT European stock markets are falling at the start of trading on Wednesday, beginning the new quarter with fresh losses, as the death toll in the United States from Covid-19 continues to climb. Germany’s DAX plunged by 3.2 percent during early trading, while Spain’s IBEX and Italy’s FTSE MIB are both down 2.2 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 has dropped by 2.6 percent. The losses are led by shares in Britain’s banks which dropped heavily at the start of trading after they froze last year’s dividends and vowed not to pay any for this year. HSBC has plunged eight percent, followed by Lloyds and Standard Chartered which have both fallen almost six percent. ALSO ON RT.COM Wall Street heads for its worst first quarter ever The markets are reacting to dire warnings from US President Donald Trump of a “very, very painful two weeks” ahead. He said Americans should be prepared for a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths. “This could be a hell of a bad two weeks. This is going to be a very bad two, and maybe three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before,” Trump said on Tuesday. White House officials are projecting between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the country, with coronavirus fatalities peaking over the next two weeks.