The Chinese yuan climbed after China cut rates and added medium-term funding to banks to cushion the impact of a virus outbreak. The People’s Bank of China offered 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) of one-year medium-term loans on Monday. The rate was lowered by 10 basis points to 3.15%. China said the number of coronavirus cases climbed above 70,000. The head of a Wuhan hospital said a turning point has been reached in the epicenter of the outbreak as new cases fell over the weekend, but the outlook was more cautionary outside of China. (Bloomberg) Indonesia’s exports slumped in January just as the coronavirus began spreading, with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati warning of a hit to global trade. Exports fell 3.7% from a year ago versus a median estimate for a surplus of 1.2% in a Bloomberg survey of economists, the statistics office said Monday. Imports declined 4.8%, resulting in a trade deficit of $864 million, more than twice the $375 million shortfall forecast in the survey. While Indonesia is yet to record a single case of the deadly virus, the government is sounding alarms bells over a potential hit to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. (Bloomberg) Source: Danareksa Sekuritas Debt Research Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash