(Corrects to restore dropped word in paragraph 2)
* Asian shares hit lowest level since early 2019
* U.S. stock futures down more than 2%
* Markets expect ECB to cut rates despite side-effects worries
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Global shares crumbled on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States will suspend all travel from Europe as he unveiled measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic that has extracted a heavy human and economic toll worldwide.
U.S. S&P500 futures dropped more than 3%, a day after the S&P 500 lost 4.89%, putting the index in bear market territory, defined as a 20% fall from a recent top.
Euro Stoxx 50 futures dived more than 5% to their lowest levels since mid-2016. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 2% to its lowest level since early 2019, while Japan's Nikkei lost 3.3%.
Australia's benchmark dived 3.7% and South Korea's Kospi fell 2.7% to a four-year low.
Trump announced on Wednesday the United States will suspend all travel from Europe, except from the United Kingdom, to the United States for 30 days starting on Friday.
He also announced some other steps, including instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments for entities hit by the virus.
But investors were hardly convinced those measures will turn around the global economy as concerns grew that the number of infections could quickly snowball in many countries.
"In many European countries, the number of patients are increasing in a track similar to Italy. The U.S. appears to be following that path. It now looks realistic to expect, within 10 days, those countries could have more than ten thousands patients."
Safe-haven assets were back in favour, though many of them were still below recent peaks, which some market players suspect reflects a desperate bout of profit-taking to make up for losses suffered elsewhere.
Gold edged up 0.5% to $1,642.5 per ounce but still stood well below Monday's high above $1,700.
The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield fell 8.7 basis points to 0.737%, though it is still more than 40 basis points above a record low of 0.318% touched on Monday. Some analysts say the rise could reflect worries about an increase in government spending for stimulus.
The two-year yield fell 4 basis points to 0.458%, but stood well above Monday's low of 0.251%.
Fed fund rate futures, however, are still pricing in a rate cut of at least 0.75 percentage points and about a 50% chance of a 1.0 percentage point cut at a policy review on March 17-18.