World braces for nCoV pandemic; wide recession speculation

BEIJING- Optimism that the coronavirus contagion would be contained in China disappeared on Friday as the disease reached wider scope, hitting other nations. To prepare for a worldwide pandemic, countries started hoarding medical equipment and investors sought safety on the possibility that a global recession may occur.

Shares fell flat and were heading towards its worst weekly session since the great financial crisis back in 2008. Share prices’ series of decline could all be attributed from virus-related disturbances directly affecting international travel and supply chains. These concerns may bring sharp recession in the United States and the European zone.

The U.S. stock market is on the process of correction with benchmark S&P 500 index shedding more than 4% on Thursday. The decline extended losses and has now wiped out more than 10% of its closing highs on Feb. 19. Asian stocks followed Wall Street’s decline on Friday.

“The coronavirus now looks like a pandemic. Markets can cope even if there is big risk as long as we can see the end of the tunnel,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“But at the moment, no one can tell how long this will last and how severe it will get,” he added.