On this page, you will find our latest news and analysis of the Coronavirus, and how it is affecting the world’s financial markets. You will also find our Coronavirus map, and see which countries have confirmed cases of the Coronavirus (2019-cCoV).
Special Article: Revisiting SARS and How the New Coronavirus Outbreak Can Affect Financial Markets
Confirmed Coronavirus Cases
Coronavirus Map
The data for the map is complied by John Hopkins CSSE, and their sources are WHO, CDC, NHC, and DXY.
What is Coronavirus?
In January 2019, news of a SARS-like coronavirus hit the newswires. It began in the Chinese province of Wuhan and is said to have come from animals. Its symptoms include a runny nose, cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. In more severe cases, it can lead to kidney failure and death. Officially the new virus is called 2019-nCoV, and it quickly infected over 800 people in less than two weeks. The death toll also rose from 3 to 25 in a matter of days. Countries outside of China soon began recording cases of the coronavirus from Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the US, and Australia.
To curb the spread of the disease, the Chinese government imposed a travel ban for the city of Wuhan. It was a bold move considering that Wuhan is a large city of 11 million people and is considered a significant transport hub. Soon after, eight more Chinese cities were limited from travel.
Consequently, the infection sparked public fears. It did not take long for that fear to affect financial markets. Among those adversely hit was the Hang Seng Index. The proximity of the financial hub to the epicenter took its toll on stocks in the retail, transportation, and property sectors. The Shanghai Composite Index initially benefitted from the news thanks to increased sales by pharmaceutical and mask-producing companies. However, risk aversion quickly caught on, and the Chinese stock index began trading lower.
On the other hand, safe-haven assets like gold and the Japanese yen saw increased demand as fears of the coronavirus mounted.
Latest News
The daily chart reveals a considerable downside gap that saw the Apple stock price plummet from Friday's close of 313.05 to the current rate of 300.27. The Apple stock price drop seen earlier in the NY trading session is as a result of the broad-based selloff that has seen the [...]
Brent crude price action for Monday saw the asset take a massive hit as new coronavirus fears hit the market. The weekend saw reports out of several countries that indicate that global spread of the coronavirus disease is now on the rise, with sharp increases in the number of new [...]
Full risk-off sentiment this Monday as a result of new coronavirus fears is allowing silver prices to extend gains for yet another trading session, marking the 7th out of 8 trading sessions that silver has traded higher. Silver price has continued its upside move by 25 cents on the day [...]
S&P 500 futures set for a sharply lower opening amid growing concerns on the coronavirus spread in South Korea and Italy. A rise in coronavirus cases in Italy that hit 195 and four deaths above the increasing number of cases in South Korea. South Korea’s Kospi index was down almost [...]
The sudden spike in new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) across Western Europe and around the world have spooked investors, causing the Dow Jones futures to plunge for the third straight session. This renewed selloff on the Dow Jones is a result of markets now genuinely spooked that a global [...]
The global spread of the coronavirus has picked up in countries like Italy and Iran, prompting the resumption of the slump in copper prices in Monday morning trading. Copper futures are down nearly 45 cents as increased global spread of the coronavirus prompted risk-off sentiment which led to the selloff [...]
GBPUSD trades close to daily lows amid USD strength across the board. Coronavirus concerns shift investors attention to the safe-haven US Dollar. Investors ignore the recent strong economic data from the UK economy as the coronavirus uncertainty threats global economy. On Friday, the UK Manufacturing production rose in February at [...]
KOSPI Down as Coronavirus Cases Rise Aside from the majors, the South Korean markets have been hard-hit by coronavirus fears at the start of this week’s trading. This comes after confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose sharply by 161 to 763 while its death toll is at 7. This [...]
AUDUSD is trading at its lowest levels since March 2009. As of this writing, the currency pair is hovering around the 0.6600 psychological handle. If there are enough sellers left in the market, it could slide lower to its 2008 low at 0.5990 which is where it bottomed following the [...]
The Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all trading lower today as investors start to worry deeply about the long-term negative impact on the global economy from the coronavirus epidemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened sharply lower on the day as investors are beginning to brace to the [...]
