Wall Street closed deeply in the red, as a second case of coronavirus was confirmed. On Friday, US Senator John Barrasso said a third case of the Wuhan virus may be confirmed as well. Stocks were mainly dragged by United Airlines, American, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts. On the corporate side, American Express beat earnings expectations, driven in part by strong card fee revenues. Meanwhile, Intel also topped estimates and gave an optimistic outlook for the first quarter of 2020. The Dow Jones lost 170 points or 0.6% to 28990. The S&P 500 retreated 30 points or 0.9% to 3296. The Nasdaq shed 88 points or 0.9% to 9315.

The Baltic index, which measures the cost of shipping goods around the world, slumped 19 points, or 3.3%, to 557 points on Friday, a level not seen since April 2016, as weaker demand was reported for all vessel categories. Higher fuel costs under the new International Maritime 2020 regulations led to a significant rise in the cost of operating cargo ships.

The IHS Markit US Services PMI rose to 53.2 in January 2020 from 52.8 in the previous month, above market expectations of 52.9, a preliminary estimate showed. The latest reading pointed to the strongest pace of expansion in the service sector since last March, as employment increased the most in six months while new order growth eased. In addition, business optimism reached a seven-month high, still remaining well below the series trend. Finally, input prices rose the most since last July and output charges were raised only at a modest pace.

Retail sales in Canada rose 0.9 percent from a month earlier in November 2019, rebounding from a downwardly revised 1.1 percent fall in the previous month and beating market expectations of a 0.4 percent increase. It was the largest gain in retail trade since March, driven by higher sales at motor vehicle & parts dealers (+3 percent), led by new car dealers (+2.8 percent); and at food & beverage stores (+0.9 percent), namely supermarkets and other grocery stores (+1.3 percent). Also, sales at building material & garden equipment and supplies dealers went up for the first time in five months (+2.1 percent); and receipts at gasoline stations advanced 0.2 percent, mostly due to higher prices at the pump. Year-on-year, retail trade increased 1.9 percent, after declining a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in October.

Brazil's economy lost a net 307.311 thousand jobs in December 2019, slightly less than market forecasts of a 320 thousand decline and compared to last year's 334.462 thousand fall, as workers temporarily hired to meet the end-of-year demand were dismissed. Still, that was the best December result since 2005, when 286.719 thousand jobs were lost. Considering 2019 full year, the economy created 644.079 thousand jobs, the most since 2013, with the biggest job gains being recorded in São Paulo (184.133 thousand), Minas Gerais (97.720 thousand) and Santa Catarina (71.406 thousand).

Britain's 10-year yields dropped 2bps to 0.574% on Friday, their lowest level since October 11th, as some investors still see the Bank of England slashing interest rates when it meets next week despite stronger than expected PMI data. Meanwhile, two- and five-year yields were down a similar amount at 0.403% and 0.385% respectively.

US gasoline prices plunged as much as 3.4% to $1.5 per gallon around 12:30 PM NY time on Friday, a level not seen since September 2019, after the latest EIA data showed inventories in the US build even as demand kept subdued. Energy markets have been rattled by fears about the outbreak of a deadly new coronavirus.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.8 in January 2020 from 47.5 in the previous month and well above market expectations of 48.9, a preliminary estimate showed. The latest reading was the highest since last April and signalled a broad stabilisation of business conditions across the manufacturing sector, boosted by higher levels of new work and a slight rise in employment. In addition, output fell the least since the current phase of decline began in June 2019, while stocks of purchases dropped sharply.

The IHS Markit Eurozone Composite PMI was at 50.9 in January 2020, unchanged from the previous month and missing market expectations of 51.2, a preliminary estimate showed. The index remained amongst the lowest levels in the past six-and-a-half years, as services activity grew at a slower pace (PMI at 52.2 vs 52.8 in December) while manufacturing output continued to contract (PMI at 47.8 vs 46.3 in December). The rate of expansion in output and new orders remained muted while the rate of job creation picked up from that seen at December. Rises in operating capacity enabled companies to deplete backlogs of work. On the price front, input cost inflation accelerated to an eight-month high, still remaining relatively muted and output prices rose. Finally, sentiment increased to a 16-month high, boosted by a fifth successive improvement in confidence among manufacturers amid signs that the worst of the recent downturn has passed.