Yesterday would go down in history as the day in which the global stock market registered the single biggest daily rout since the Black Monday of 1987.
Major indices tumbled by nearly 10 per cent and even gold, which is commonly considered to be a safe-haven asset, was not spared from the selloff. The tanking of gold and other similar low-risk assets is the result of investors dumping their safe-havens in an effort to obtain more liquid assets.
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled to levels that were last tested at the beginning of 2019, which means that the current market crash has nearly wiped out all of the previous year’s gains.
The tanking prices are prompted by increasing investors’ concerns over the efficiency of global efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In a statement to the public, Donald Trump said that travel from Europe to the United States is going to be prohibited for the next month, which has stirred the already volatile environment and was not accepted calmly by the market.
The decision came amidst the rising crude oil price war, which is being waged between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the FED’s decision to bolster its quantitative easing program. All of these factors have contributed to the exponentially mounting pressures on the market, leading to heightened overall uncertainty.
The situation has exposed the frailty of the global supply network. As multiple supply chains are now starting to give way to these external pressures, local economies are being thrown into disarray. That is why the stock market selloff continues to show no signs of slowing down.
It is yet uncertain as to where the dip would be reached. Judging by the comparative chart below, European stocks – as represented by the German DAX – have been hit harder than their American counterparts.
This is due to the fact that the European economy is more dependent on the uninterrupted functioning of the global supply network.