Many regional markets, including China's, were closed in Asia for Lunar New Year holidays. Australia was closed for Australia Day.
Various governments have announced plans to evacuate people from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the center of the pandemic. China halted outbound tours and Wuhan and some other cities stopped public transport, obliging tens of millions of people to stay where they are at the time of the country's peak travel season.
Apart from the direct impact on tourism and travel,"any economic shock to China's colossal industrial and consumption engines will spread rapidly to other countries through the increased trade and financial linkages associated with globalisation," he said. On Friday, the S&P 500 had its worst day since early October, dropping 0.9% as health care stocks saw steep losses. The sell-off followed news that a Chicago woman had become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new virus from China.
Banks and other financial sector companies also took heavy losses, with credit card issuers among the biggest decliners. Discover Financial Services tumbled 10.1% and Synchrony Financial slumped 9.8%.
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