U.S. Stocks Plunge as Coronavirus Crisis Spreads

Stocks tumbled around the world on Monday as expanding outbreaks of the coronavirus in Italy and in South Korea forced investors to reconsider the seriousness of the threat economies in Europe and the United States.

China’s economy has already been hamstrung by the outbreak, which has infected more than 77,000 people there and triggered quarantines that have closed factories. But rapidly spreading outbreaks elsewhere in Asia as well as Europe and the Middle East have begun to erode confidence that the virus will pass sooner rather than later.

“The coronavirus might be slowing in mainland China, but the huge jump over the weekend to various other countries has many reassessing 2020 growth estimates,” Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial, a money management firm, wrote in an email. He added: “We could see quickly decreasing earnings and growth outlooks.”

The S&P 500 fell more than 3.3 percent, its biggest daily decline since February 2018, while the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 1,000 points.

European markets recorded their worst day since 2016, and major benchmarks in Asia also closed sharply lower.

Investors have been jumpy since the start of the crisis in January, because of the role that China’s factories play in global business. Those factories are vital links in global supply chains, taking in shipments of raw materials and sending out everything from clothing to iPhones to auto parts.

Hyundai, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, cited a shortage of Chinese-made parts when it temporarily stopped production lines earlier this month at factories in South Korea — and that was before a surge in coronavirus cases in that country put officials on high alert.

• Updated Feb. 10, 2020

  • What is a Coronavirus?
    It is a novel virus named for the crown-like spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people, and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to more dangerous conditions like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
  • How contagious is the virus?
    According to preliminary research, it seems moderately infectious, similar to SARS, and is possibly transmitted through the air. Scientists have estimated that each infected person could spread it to somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 people without effective containment measures.
  • How worried should I be?
    While the virus is a serious public health concern, the risk to most people outside China remains very low, and seasonal flu is a more immediate threat.
  • Who is working to contain the virus?
    World Health Organization officials have praised China’s aggressive response to the virus by closing transportation, schools and markets. This week, a team of experts from the W.H.O. arrived in Beijing to offer assistance.
  • What if I’m traveling?
    The United States and Australia are temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who recently traveled to China and several airlines have canceled flights.
  • How do I keep myself and others safe?
    Washing your hands frequently is the most important thing you can do, along with staying at home when you’re sick.

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China is also a huge consumer market itself: When Apple cut its sales expectations for the quarter last week, it cited both production problems linked to the outbreak and reduced demand in the country, where it had closed dozens of stores.

Since the start of the outbreak, the stock market’s reaction has been fairly restrained; the S&P 500 had continued to rise even after the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency.

But the virus’s spread over the weekend has contributed to fears that the outbreak is reaching the point where it will drag on growth, including in the United States, where until now analysts had only whittled around the edges of expectations.

The consensus estimate for first quarter growth in the United States has slipped from 1.7 percent at the end of 2019, to 1.5 percent on Monday, according to data from FactSet. Economists at Goldman Sachs, who were expecting first-quarter domestic growth of 2 percent as recently as late January, have been steadily lowering their estimate, which fell to 1.2 percent on Monday.

“The risks are clearly skewed to the downside until the outbreak is contained,” they wrote.

Monday’s drop across markets for stocks, bonds and commodities suggests that investors don’t believe those somewhat muted forecasts are pessimistic enough.

In bond markets, yields tumbled, reflecting a sharp — if perhaps temporary — downgrade of expectations for economic growth and inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.37 percent, near the record low closing of 1.36 percent, a level touched back in July 2016. The yield on the 30-year bond is already in record-low territory at 1.83 percent.

Crude oil prices dropped, with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude slipping nearly 4 percent to roughly $51. It was the sharpest drop for oil since early January. The lower prices will add to pressure on OPEC and Russia to take measures to reduce oil supplies at their next meeting, which is scheduled for early March in Vienna.

And gold — viewed as a safe place to invest during market tumult — rose to a seven-year high.

Airline and technology stocks were particularly hard hit. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines down 6 percent and 8 percent. Shares of Apple fell more than 4 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.7 percent.

In Europe, major benchmarks were down 3 percent or more. The South Korean market ended 3.9 percent lower, after a surge in virus cases prompted President Moon Jae-in on Sunday to put the country on its highest level of alert. Other Asian markets slid, but not by as much.

Uncertainty about the potential impact of the virus remains the baseline setting for many investors, traders and analysts. In a note published on Friday, economists at JPMorgan Chase wrote that they expected global growth to slow to 1 percent in the first quarter, amid a sharp contraction of manufacturing activity.

“While this would mark the weakest quarter of the expansion, these are still optimistic estimates with significant downside risk,” they wrote.

Editors’ Note: A push notification to this article said Monday’s decline was the stock market’s worst daily drop in 14 months. After prices settled the decline turned out to be the worst in over two years.

Keith Bradsher contributed reporting.