Asian Shares Decline Despite Hopes For Relief

TOKYO (AP) – Asian stocks are falling despite gains on Wall Street on expectations the Trump administration will act to cushion the economic pain of the virus outbreak. Benchmarks in Japan, Australia and South Korea fell Wednesday, while Chinese shares erased morning gains to also lose ground. On Wall Street, stocks recouped most of their historic losses from Monday. Hopes rose, faded and then rose again that the U.S. government will take effective measures to help reduce disruptions to the economy. In Asia, governments have announced billions of dollars worth of subsidies, tax breaks and emergency loans as stopgap measures.