Investors in United states have mostly shrugged off the impact of the coronavirus ravaging China. That changed on Monday, when news of the outbreak’s spread drove them to sell stocks – at a furious pace. The stock market was affected very unpredictably.
The S&P 500 index, which had reached a record high as recently as Wednesday, fell 3.4 percent, its worst single-day performance since February 2018. As analysists issued new warnings that the outbreak could drag down economics around the globe, stocks fell enough to wipe out all of the index’s gains for 2020.
It was a turbulent day for stocks worldwide: European markets recorded their worst session since 2016, and major benchmarks in Asia also closed down. The stock markets have shown the fall which hasn’t been seen in past two years.
“There was a cavalier attitude about the virus,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird, an investment banking and money-management firm. With the threats appearing to increase, he added, “you have to think about the global economy slipping enough to cause a shortfall in earnings.”
Italy under fear
There are fears that the outbreak could spread further into Asia and Europe. Italy reported it had 219 cases and locked down 11 towns, restricting the movements of 50,000 people. Police and military forces were deployed to ensure that only people with special permission left or entered towns covered by the order. Officials in Lyon, France, stopped a bus from Milan on Monday, 24th February and confined the passengers inside over suspicious of a case on board, the newspaper Le Parisien reported.
South Korea to under threat
South Korea, which is considered as a major industrial center, reported 231 new cases a day after its government said it was prepared to use emergency powers if necessary. And state-owned media in Iran reported that the virus had killed 12 people there – the highest death toll outside China.
… and the condition in USA
The United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 53 people infected with the virus, up from 34 on last Friday. Nearly all the infections involve former passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan, who have been quarantined on military bases in California and Texas. British officials announced that four passengers who had been in quarantine since returning to the country were infected, raising that country’s number of cases to 13.
