G7 finance, central bank chiefs to hold talks amid outbreak

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G7 countries will hold talks on Tuesday amid rising global uncertainty over the coronavirus epidemic, the US Treasury said on Monday.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell "will lead a call with their G7 counterparts tomorrow morning," the department confirmed in a statement.

The announcement cheered Wall Street, and the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 3.0 percent to 26,2220.86, continuing the morning rally after it dropped 12.4 percent last week, its worst since 2008.

Markets in London and Paris also rebounded, but Frankfurt closed in the red.

Governments have been scrambling to respond to the outbreak which has now killed more than 3,000 people and infected almost 90,000 as it spreads to more and more countries, inflaming fears of widespread economic disruption.

G7 and eurozone finance ministers will hold conference calls to "coordinate their responses" to the impact of the coronavirus's impact, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced earlier Monday.

"We will have that meeting by phone -- because you need to avoid traveling too much -- for the G7 to coordinate its response," Le Maire said on France 2 television.

A similar meeting of eurozone finance ministers will be held on Wednesday, he said.

"There will be coordinated action," he said.

The head of France's central bank said governments rather than central banks should take action for the moment.

Banque de France chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau told BFM Business television the outbreak has mostly caused disruptions for businesses, which are better addressed with "targeted measures" from governments rather than monetary policy from central banks.

De Galhau said monetary policy was already very accommodative with ample low-rate funds for banks to support firms.

"If we need to do more and we believe that it will be effective, we could do it, but we're not there yet," he said.

The Bank of England, for its part, said it was monitoring the situation and working closely with domestic "as well as our international partners to ensure all necessary steps are taken to protect financial and monetary stability."