February market update – number of coronavirus cases impacts global economy

Chief Investment Officer Chris Godding and Senior Research Analyst Louie French give their commentary on what happened in the markets and global economies over the month of February 2020

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Written by Chris Godding

Published on 10 Mar 20201 minute read

Global equity markets experienced a sharp sell-off at the end of February linked to fears over the growing number of global coronavirus cases and the expected impact on the global economy. In fact, a number of developed market equity indices experienced their largest weekly losses since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

In this edition

Global commodity markets were generally weak on expectations of lower demand
The traditionally more defensive asset classes, such as core government bonds, outperformed
In currency markets, the Japanese yen and US dollar were also notably strong over the month

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