ATLANTA — Coronavirus fears continue to spread, which in turn can have an impact on the stock market. The DOW Jones marked the worst week in Wall Street in the last 10 years. Experts said transport, tech and energy stocks all took the heaviest hits.
The heavy downswing in the DOW is the worst since the financial crisis of 2008. Still, some financial experts said while things don’t look great right now, it’s too early to start using the word recession.
“I would not compare it to a 2008 or 2009 situation where that was truly a financial crisis. The global market came to a screeching halt, ATMs stopped spitting out money. That was a very unique situation,” said Alex Reffett.
Instead of forecasting a recession, Reffet, Co-Founder of financial company, East Paces Group, said 2020 will see the global economy slow. However, he added what’s happening right now is somewhat normal.
“Anytime you have uncertainty, you’re going to have volatility and we have a lot of uncertainty right now.”
Reffett said not only do people have uncertainty over the coronavirus, but in America, it’s an election year, which causes even more uncertainty for investors.
Staying on task with any financial goals, especially long-term ones is what Reffett suggests. Basically, don’t react out of fear.
“If you try to be reactive to situations like this, I find more often than not, they make poor decisions," he explained
Bank of America economists also released information. According to the financial institute, global growth will slow and supply chain and tourism disruptions will continue.
Coca-Cola, for instance, said the outbreak could lead to a shorter supply of their diet sodas because they get their artificial sweeteners from China. Papa John’s temporarily closed 50 stores in China.
Still economists are hesitant to say a global financial crisis, or a recession is looming. They do, however, expert the coronavirus outbreak to have long-lasting effects should the spread continue.
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