I can attest that Corona virus is hitting all kinds of economic activity, globally. A specialist Italian zipper manufacturer that normally answers emails within minutes is silent for days and then answers with the apology that their small northern Italy town is a “ghost town.”
Paris Fashion Week, about to start, is normally heavily attended by Asian wholesale buyers. They are largely absent. Attendance from elsewhere is lighter than usual.
Three of my long planned NYC meetings w/ ppl traveling from abroad have been canceled b/c companies have banned int’l travel.
With this anecdotal backdrop, it seems to me the stock market reaction is entirely appropriate and, probably, not yet sufficient to reflect the global economic impact.
All the talk abt the market reaction being a “vote of no confidence” in Trump management of the crisis, admin misinformation, etc. strikes me as missing the central fact: the market is doing its best to take the measure of the virus’ likely economic impact.
