Coronavirus slows down business across the world – The Wall Street Journal

In cities around the world where cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, everybody is nervous. A sneeze or a cough on the London Underground that would barely have registered a month or so ago, now attracts worried glances. In several offices around the city, workers are told to stay at home for the next fortnight and conferences and events that would attract thousands of people have been cancelled. A school in Wimbledon has been closed to undergo a deep clean after staff tested positive for the coronavirus. South Africa has not had any cases of the disease which has now been named COVID-19. The National Institute for Communicable Disease have indicated that 156 people have been tested and all the results were negative. Within the next week, 151 of the 201 South Africans living in the Wuhan area of China where the virus broke out, are going to be repatriated to South Africa where they would be quarantined under military guard for 21 days. The virus has wiped $5trn on global stocks with the OECD warning that it is the gravest threat to the global economy since the 2008 financial crisis. It warned that the virus could tip a number of economies into recession. Central banks around the world said that they would step in to stabilise economies as the coronavirus continues to spread. It lifted stocks in Asia and Europe in morning trade but the recovery appeared to be fragile. In this Wall Street Journal article, the authors say that the coronavirus is delaying major business decisions and it "has abruptly dented demand and supply across industries and continents". – Linda van Tilburg

Coronavirus is different. It's rapidly hitting supply and demand.

By Thomas Gryta and Russell Adams

___STEADY_PAYWALL___