Equity markets slipped on Thursday on concerns about the long-term impact of the new coronavirus and simmering U.S.-China tensions, though those worries couldn’t stop oil prices from marching to a 2-1/2 month high. The London .FTSE , Frankfurt .GDAX and Paris .FCHI bourses and Wall Street futures were all 0.7%-1% lower in early trading, while the euro EUR= and pound GBP= both wilted as the dollar snapped a four-day losing streak. It was also a big day for data and central bankers. Purchasing manager index surveys (PMIs) from Germany and France had already confirmed that economic activity has begun to return, though they were far from stellar. Despite better-than-expected euro zone-wide figures Germany’s improvement undershot analysts’ forecasts, and it was the third month in a row that the surveys were firmly in economic contraction territory. “While we have seen resilience in European markets there is still […]