The sooner coronavirus crisis is solved, the better. That applies both on Chinese and global economy.
Stock markets are usually first victims of crisis situations and new coronavirus epidemic is another such example. Coronavirus from China’s Wuhan has already spread to three more continents – America, Australia and Europe. Shares are weakening worldwide, weekly declines approach 2% in some cases.
Similarly, tourism and services are affected in general. Hundreds of flights to and from China are being cancelled and stores are closed down in cities, which were put under quarantine by China’s government.
Strangely though, threat of dangerous virus epidemic has a winner. Investors chose gold as safe mean where to deposit money. Therefore, price of gold is rising. Shares of pharmaceutical companies rise as there is expected growing demand for its products. Current epidemiological crisis is similar to SARS disease spread in 2002. Yet, some experts expect that a vaccine could be developed faster than in case of SARS. In that case, economic results of current epidemic should not be that huge.
