(02 April 2020)DAILY MARKET BRIEF 1:Stocks recover but data is a big threat to improved appeti

<p>Major US stock indices lost circa 4.40% on Wednesday, but this time the sell-off was driven by European markets amid major European banks announced they will not pay dividends in 2020. Investors who have already suffered colossal losses during the recent market selloff were further disenchanted to hear that they would be losing their revenues from dividend payouts as well. However, the banks as other companies, must hold onto the cash to survive the unprecedented slowdown in activity. This is the only way they can maintain a healthy balance sheet faced with significant decline in expected revenues and perhaps an increased need for expanding their loans.</p>
<p>Axing dividends hatched havoc for European bank stocks. In the UK, Lloyds (-11.66%), Barclays (-11.95%), HSBC (-9.52%) and Royal Bank of Scotland (-5.23%) slumped. In France, Credit Agricole (-5.17%), BNP Paribas (-5.96%) and Societe Generale (-9.53%) displayed a similar performance. Deutsche Bank (-5.54%0 led losses in Frankfurt.</p>