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STOCK MARKETS AROUND the world have fallen dramatically in the worst week since 2008′s financial crash amid investor fears over the coronavirus.
As the virus spread from mainland China into the Middle East and now Europe, global stock exchanges have plummeted this week as the number of reported Covid-19 cases has risen.
China has now recorded almost 80,000 cases of Covid-19. A total of 2,790 people have died, the majority in the Hubei province, where the virus originated.
According to the latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 820 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Europe where 14 people have already died from the virus.
Global stock exchanges are where traders buy and sell company stocks and bonds and form an integral part of the market economy. If stock prices fall companies have less ability to grow and make profit.
Asian stock markets plunged further today owing to virus fears, deepening a global rout after Wall Street endured its biggest one-day drop in nine years. The Dow Jones, the US stock market index , dropped by 4.4%.
Corporations like Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft and Apple are listed on the Dow Jones index, which measures each company’s stock performance.
Indexes are used so investors can compare current prices with past prices to calculate market performance.
Tokyo’s benchmark plummeted today by an unusually wide margin of 3.7%, and Seoul and Sydney dropped by more than 3%. Hong Kong and Shanghai fell over 2.5%.
Oil prices also slumped on expectations that industrial activity and demand might contract this week.
A growing list of major companies, meanwhile, are issuing profit warnings and say factory shutdowns in China are disrupting supply chains. They say travel bans and other anti-disease measures also are hurting sales in China, a major consumer market.
Virus fears “have become full-blown across the globe as cases outside China climb”, Chang Wei Liang and Eugene Leow, of Singapore bank DBS, said in a report.
London’s main index was on course for its worst week since the depths of the financial crisis as markets opened down by 3.7% this morning.
The Guardian reports that analysts warned the outbreak could wreak economic havoc on a scale not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.
Airline earnings have also been hit by “weaker demand” on Asian and European routes.
Willie Walsh, the CEO of International Airlines Group – which owns British Airways and Aer Lingus – said it could lead to the closure of some “failing” airlines.
“We are well able to adjust to this situation because our business is in great shape. It’s the failing airlines who will be most affected by this… so without question, there will be more consolidation as a result,” he said.
British Airways owner IAG saw more than a 9.5% drop in its share price while Tui, the travel group, suffered a 6.2% fall.
Contains reporting from Press Association
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Portugal has 2000 isolation beds at the ready and dozens specialist teams ready to deal with an outbreak
Ireland has……Advice
@Ruairi Dowdall: and a hotline that doesn’t work
@Ruairi Dowdall: we heard you the first time
@Ruairi Dowdall: The advice is: Don’t bother wearing a mask, it’ll be grand.
@Ruairi Dowdall: that’s nothing, Ireland organised it’s own storm for tomorrow to blow the corona virus out into the Atlantic.
@Ruairi Dowdall: don’t worry, it was reported earlier in the week that the Mater Hospital has 12 isolation beds, and that they’ll be brought on stream if needed! You couldn’t make it up!!!
@Ruairi Dowdall: Yea , like “ sticking a note on your front door “ lol
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop huffing glue.
@Sequoia: getting real tired of this now
I’d say by mid next week buy as many stocks as you can, a lot of money to be made. All depends on these virus numbers slowing down by the end of the weekend !
@John O’Neill: or it could get worse as it’s spreads to other countries?
Do you play roulette often?
@John O’Neill: Don’t try to catch a falling knife
@John Black: no new cases in the U.S in the last 32 hours, Italy press conference at 5pm, 85% of Starbucks back open In China. The numbers don’t sound bad to me.
@Bob Frapples: infodemic or pandemic?
@John O’Neill: on the money (: when this fecks off, which will over time, the only way is up for stocks
@Looney Tunes: literally cant go tits up
@John O’Neill: maybe a few days longer, but yeah there will be a massive bounce back
@John Black: always bet on Black .. John Black
@John O’Neill: What would you recommend? White stocks, black stocks, those little hidden ankle stocks, or full length knee stocks?
@barry sorensen: Index funds – they spread your investment over all the companies in whatever stock exchange you pick. Google “S&P 500 graph” and look at the last 30 years. It’s survived every global crisis and downturn over the last 60 odd years.
@Aidan: only fools buy on the way down
@Rocky Raccoon: I was talking the piss
Anyone know where I can buy stocks in a surgical mask company?
@anthony mcgowan: 3M
Bring back brexit the lesser of the two evils
have your say