Global Stocks Lost Trillions of Dollars

Coronavirus outbreak continues to dominate the headlines. Global markets fell on Friday due to the ongoing situation. According to Bank of America, coronavirus crash wiped about $9 trillion off stocks as of Thursday.

On March 6, the Nikkei 225 dropped 2.72% to close at 20,749.75. Shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group declined 6.07%. The Topix index fell 2.92% to end its trading day at 1,471.46.

South Korea’s Kospi index declined 2.16% to close at 2,040.22. Moreover, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell by more than 20% as of its final hour of trading.

Importantly, mainland Chinese stocks also experienced problems on Friday. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.21% to about 3,034.51. At the same time, the Shenzhen component declined 1.1% to 11,582.82. Moreover, the Shenzhen composite dropped 0.74% to approximately 1,915.17.

On Friday, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.81 to close at 6,216.20.

Stock indexes in Europe also fell on Friday. For instance, U.K’s FTSE 100 was trading 3% lower on Friday morning. Meanwhile, Germany’s DAX fell 3.5%, and France’s CAC 40 was 3.6% weaker.

Stocks and S&P Global Ratings

The S&P Global Ratings downgraded its economic outlook for the Asia Pacific. Coronavirus outbreak could wipe $211 billion from a household, corporate, and government incomes. Moreover, the ratings agency decided to lower the economic growth from 4.8% to 4.0%.

According to the ratings agency, China’s economy will likely grow by just 4.8%.

Some industries may suffer even bigger losses as the outbreak is far from being over.

Importantly, airlines could lose $113 billion in sales if the virus continues to spread, based on the information provided by the International Air Transport Association.

Starbucks expects a 50% decline in sales at stores in China during the January-March quarter.

Last but not least, the global outbreak will affect Japan and South Korea. Consequently, domestic supply and demand will fall due to the outbreak.