Virus anxiety triggers biggest 1-day market drop since 2011
Worldwide markets plummeted again Thursday, deepening a weeklong rout triggered by growing anxiety that the coronavirus will wreak havoc on the global economy. The sweeping sell- off gave U.S. stocks their worst one- day drop since 2011.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled nearly 1,200 points. The S& P 500 has now plunged 12% from the all-time high it set just a week ago. That puts the index in what market watchers call a “correction,” which some analysts have said was long overdue in this bull market, the longest in history.
Stocks are now headed for their worst week since October 2008, during the global financial crisis.
Goldman Sachs is warning Wall Street that the coronavirus could cost President Donald Trump the election.
“If the coronavirus epidemic materially affects US economic growth it may increase the likeli
hood of Democratic victory in the 2020 election,” Goldman Sachs analysts led by Ben Snider wrote in a report published Wednesday night.
Also Thursday, analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted that companies in the S&P 500 would generate no profit growth as a result of the crisis, because of a “severe decline in Chinese economic activity,” disruption in the supply chain for American companies and a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
The losses extended a slide that has wiped out the solid gains major indexes posted early this year. Investors came into 2020 feeling confident that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates at low levels and the U. S.- China trade war posed less of a threat to company profits after the two sides reached a preliminary agreement in January. Even in the early days of the outbreak, markets took things in stride.
But over the past two weeks, a growing list of major companies issued warnings that profits could suffer as factory shutdowns across China disrupt supply chains and consumers there refrain from shopping. Travel to and from China is severely restricted, and shares of airlines, hotels and cruise operators have been punished in stock markets.
Before U. S. stock markets opened Thursday, PayPal said that while its business trends remain strong, “international cross-border e- commerce activity has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 (coronavirus).” The company said that because of the effects of coronavirus, it expects its firstquarter revenue to be at the low end of its previously announced range of $4.78 billion to $4.84 billion in sales.
Earlier this month, Apple said that because of the impact of coronavirus on its suppliers in China, it doesn’t expect to meet its March quarter revenue target range of $63 billion to $67 billion, and supplies of iPhones will be “temporarily constrained” as its supply chain gets back up to speed.
Tesla has also seen its Chinese operations affected by the spread of coronavirus, as the electric carmaker shut down its Shanghai Gigafactory for a week and half in late January and early February as part of an effort to halt the spread of the disease.
As the virus spread beyond China, markets feared the economic issues in China could escalate globally.
One sign of that is the big decline in oil prices, which slumped on expectations that demand will tail off sharply.
“This is a market that’s being driven completely by fear,” said Elaine Stokes, portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles, with market movements following the classic characteristics of a fear trade: Stocks are down. Commodities are down, and bonds are up.
Bond prices soared again Thursday as investors fled to safe investments. The yield on the benchmark 10year Treasury note fell as low as 1.246%, a record low, according to TradeWeb. When yields fall, it’s a sign that investors are feeling less confident about the strength of the economy.
Stokes said the swoon reminded her of the market’s reaction following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Eventually we’re going to get to a place where this fear, it’s something that we get used to living with, the same way we got used to living with the threat of living with terrorism,” she said.
“But right now, people don’t know how or when we’re going to get there, and what people do in that situation is to retrench.”
The virus has now infected more than 82,000 people globally and is worrying governments with its rapid spread beyond the epicenter of China.
Japan will close schools nationwide to help control the spread of the new virus. Saudi Arabia banned foreign pilgrims from entering the kingdom to visit Islam’s holiest sites. Italy has become the center of the outbreak in Europe, with the spread threatening the financial and industrial centers of that nation.
Traders are growing increasingly certain that the Federal Reserve will be forced to cut interest rates to protect the economy, and soon. They are pricing in a 96% probability of a cut at the Fed’s next meeting in March. Just a day before, they were calling for only a 33% chance, according to CME Group.
The market’s sharp drop this week partly reflects increasing fears among many economists that the U. S. and global economies could take a bigger hit from the coronavirus than they previously thought.
Earlier assumptions that the impact would largely be contained in China and would temporarily disrupt manufacturing supply chains have been overtaken by concerns that as the virus spreads, more people in numerous countries will stay home, either voluntarily or under quarantine. Vacations could be canceled, restaurant meals skipped, and fewer shopping trips taken.
“A global recession is likely if COVID-19 becomes a pandemic, and the odds of that are uncomfortably high and rising with infections surging in Italy and Korea,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
The market rout will also likely weaken Americans’ confidence in the economy, analysts say, even among those who don’t own shares. Such volatility can worry people about their own companies and job security. In addition, Americans that do own stocks feel less wealthy. Both of those trends can combine to discourage consumer spending and slow growth.