Coronavirus concerns: Dow falls nearly 1,200 points, stock market dives amid COVID-19 fears

ByAmanda del Castillo KGO logo

Friday, February 28, 2020

Stock markets suffer amid coronavirus outbreak

Fear and panic surrounding the novel Coronavirus led to a historic day on Wall Street. The Dow fell nearly 1,200 points, the largest single-day point drop ever. Experts told ABC7 News, it's rational and emotional concern that is driving the markets.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Fear and panic surrounding Coronavirus led to a historic day on Wall Street. The Dow fell nearly 1,200 points, the largest single-day point drop ever.

However, the overwhelming message from financial and business experts: "Do not panic," they say, not yet, at least.

Experts told ABC7 News, it's rational and emotional concern that is driving the markets.

"The rational concerns right now are that companies like Apple have had their supply chains significantly interrupted," Dan Moshavi explained. "A lot of the manufacturing takes place in China, iPhones and other products."

Dan Moshavi is the Dean of San Jose State University's Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. He said the emotional side is tied to our own individual wallets.

So ABC7 News connected with people in Downtown San Jose.

Michigan resident Peng-fei Fu was in town for business. He said, "Right now, you know you have to prepare for it. But I don't think it's going to get that worse."

With markets down, Moshavi predicts many may start to feel less wealthy, and less likely to spend.

"I'm starting to watch carefully on how I can position myself, if this pops into a recession all of a sudden out of nowhere like it did a few years back," San Jose resident Michael Mann said. "I want to be ready for it."

Others maintained it's too early to talk recession.

Still, experts are warning if company profitability is affected, it could potentially affect hiring and impact certain jobs in certain sectors.

"Way too early to predict what those would be," Moshavi said. "But yes, there are absolutely implications, potentially for folks who don't invest in the market."

He said economically, people have to play the long game. He noted that historically, after big market declines, the market typically comes back.

In Downtown San Jose, we met Dallas resident Marc Marshall. He agrees.

Marshall said the 2008 recession didn't hit him the way it did most.

"The 2008 Recession hit the housing market pretty bad, except where I live in Texas," Marshall said. "So, me hanging onto my assets actually paid off in the long run. So, it doesn't make any sense to panic. It doesn't do anything, and it doesn't do anything for us."

For now, we wait.

Click here to view the entire ABC7 News interview with Dan Moshavi, Dean of San Jose State University's Lucas College and Graduate School of Business.

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