Stocks just suffered their worst week since the global financial crisis on coronavirus outbreak fears. Last week’s 11.5% drop in the S&P 500 Index brought the index into correction territory. We provide context for the sell‐off and discuss potential U.S. and global economic impacts of the outbreak, although this situation remains fluid, very uncertain, and even a bit scary.   

Context on The Sell-Off

Fears surrounding the coronavirus outbreak—or COVID-19—caused significant market volatility this week, wiping out all of the gains from the S&P 500 Index since October 2019. While we want to

U.S. stocks suffered their worst weekly decline since the 2008–09 financial crisis as COVID-19 outbreak fears intensified and drove a wave of heavy selling. One U.S. case of community transmission plus raised warning levels from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) appeared to spark the selling. The S&P 500 Index lost more than 11% for the week, bringing the seven-day decline to almost 13%, the fastest correction to an all-time high ever recorded.

All four major U.S. stock indexes we track ended the week sharply lower, with losses between 10.5% and 12.4%. No sector

Amid increasing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its potential impacts on global economic growth, many major global stock markets entered correction territory on Thursday; a correction is generally defined as a 10% or more peak-to-trough decline based on closing prices.

Around the world numerous large cap equity indexes, including the NASDAQ Composite, Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow), Stoxx Europe 600, and FTSE 100, closed with corrections from recent highs. The Dow’s largest ever daily point drop made headlines, but in percentage terms, the decline actually ranked only 125th of all time. The S

The coronavirus outbreak—or Covid-19 —has caused significant market volatility over the past week. Our approach as always is to focus on economic fundamentals first, but the uncertainty around the scope of the outbreak has made it very difficult to assess potential impact. The situation clearly is unsettling for investors as more cases are reported across Europe and Asia, and the first case of community transmission has been reported in the United States. As this was written, the S&P 500 Index was 10% below its February 19 all-time high.

“The Covid-19 outbreak continues to significantly disrupt economic acti