Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, March 16th,

and this is your FT news briefing.

After three weeks of chaotic drops in global stock markets,

largely because of the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Reserve stepped in on Sunday evening with tools it hasn't used since the financial crisis.

If this set of action doesn't actually work. What next?

Plus travel bans meant to stem the spread of the illness have forced the world's airports to cut costs.

And one industrial's group is asking for a premium on the sale of its hand sanitizer unit.

I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to zero before markets opened on Sunday night.

It also joined forces with other Central Banks all in a bid to prevent a severe economic downturn

caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

DFT's Jillian Tet has more. Well what the third did on Sunday afternoon was to

throw almost everything it had at the problem.

On the one hand, it cut its policy rate by a percentage point to zero,

which is a level not since 2015.

It announced a whole series of dramatic actions to support financial markets, including a $700 billion asset purchase program of which $500 billion will be for treasuries, another $200 billion for mortgage-backed securities.

It announced they would get involved in the repo market to an even greater degree.

It unveiled dollar swap lines with foreign banks to make sure the dollars keep flowing around the global economy and the financial system and it also unveiled a credit facility for commercial banks to try and help households and businesses which are under stress.

And we should know we're talking quite late on Sunday where early morning trading in Asia has opened.

How was this massive package received?

Just after the Fed came out with its dramatic announcement,

...