The impact of the massive outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has now been felt by western markets as Dow dropped a disappointing 650 points. For the rest of the week, the capital markets in the United States and Europe were very complacent amid the heavy plunge felt by most Asian markets.
The Dow has dropped 655.08 points, or 2.3%, to 28,204.36, while the S&P 500 has fallen 1.8% to 3222.31. The Nasdaq Composite is off 1.8% at 9131.64.
The novel coronavirus, a strain of virus similar to SARS and MERS, and originated in Wuhan, China, has a total confirmed infection rate of 9,776 and a total of 213 fatalities. The outbreak of the new strain of the virus has also been officially recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global emergency following its spread to nearby Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines. Confirmed cases have also been charted in the Western world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Analysts have since been vocal on their opinion that the coronavirus outbreak will eventually become one of the biggest market threats in today’s time.
“The coronavirus is the No. 1 threat to financial markets currently as global investors are becoming jittery on the uncertainty,” said Nigel Green, the founder of the investment group deVere Group this week.
“This is a worrying and serious situation, and investors must be vigilant,” he added.
Some analysts worry that the spread of the coronavirus infection will force the stock market to plummet in a devastating degree and it appears like they are not wrong as the Dow and other capital markets have shown a preview of what the future of the market is if states fail to contain and mitigate the outbreak.
