Coronavirus outbreak sends stock markets tumbling and travel rates tumbling, potentially taking away up to US$113 billion in revenue from airlines this year.
Given the ongoing concerns and consequences of the coronavirus on the global economy, there was further damage this Friday (6). The main European stock exchanges recorded losses of over 3% and the barrel of oil was down 4%.
With the impacts of the coronavirus epidemic, travel cancellations have increased and the leisure travel rate has fallen. Today the decline was recorded at around 4%.
At around 10:25 am, the London Stock Exchange was down 3.59%; Paris, 4.03%; Madrid, 3.62% and Frankfurt 3.59%; according to data from Bloomberg.
Having failed to secure new aircraft orders in February, Airbus fell 4.8%, adding further evidence of disruption in the aviation sector due to the outbreak.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that the epidemic could cost airlines up to $113 billion in revenue this year. More than 98,000 people have been infected in more than 85 countries and more than 3,300 people have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Asian stock markets closed lower on Friday. In China, the CSI300 index of the largest companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 1.62%, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.21%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index fell 2.72% to 20,749 points.
Oil prices fall and US Treasuries fall
Several losses on Friday came after strong widespread selling on Wall Street the day before, amid uncertainty about the spread of the coronavirus around the world.
Oil prices were falling significantly: a barrel of Brent fell 5%. It was the lowest level recorded since July 2017, according to France Presse.
At around 11 am, the barrel of Brent was trading down 4.26%, at US$ 47.86. In New York, WTI fell 4.49%, at US$ 43.84, after rumors that Russia would not support OPEC's call for an extra reduction in production, according to Reuters.
On Thursday, OPEC ministers said they supported an additional 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of cuts through the end of 2020. That would be a bigger and longer-lasting move than expected, but they made the proposal to Russia and other non-OPEC producers.
In the United States, yields on U.S. government bonds hit new record lows on Friday as investors sought safer assets. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to a record low of 0.7650%.