A lot can be thought and said about the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, but of course, the first would be sympathy for the people affected by it, one way or another. In this context, considerations in financial markets would quickly feel like a cool contrast to the consequences for the many hit by the virus. In financial markets, it is the cool rational considerations of the economic consequences of such an outbreak that applies — from China’s overall economy to a corporation in a country on the other side of the Earth.
The impact of the virus also reminds us about how globalized the world is, as well as how big a market China itself has become, and the impact that the country can generate, even on the largest global companies.