Hi CWL,
I have picked-up a number of datapoints on the Coronavirus over the last couple of days and my conclusion is: As long as it does not spread much further, it will not have a material effect on the global (or Chinese) economy in FY 2020. Sure, Q1 will be weaker with The Economist estimating 2-3% GDP growth in China in Q1 vs. historically +5-6% but according to DB the FY 2020 effect is likely in the range of 0.2% to 0.3% only. This is in-line with the statement from various CEO's that I have picked up, for example today Alfa Laval (a Swedish Industrial) mentioned that the effect is that there has been a 1 week closure of the plants (as long as they re-open on Feb 10th which seems to be current consensus) and similar statements made by SKF and Carlsberg (which are the ones I picked up).
Yesterday I listened to a call with a Virologist, just take the following statistics: 99% of all cases are in China, 60% of these in Hubei province, mortality rate seems to be around 2% at current and he expects it to fall as the number of less severe cases rise. This compares to SARS at 10% mortality or MERS at 30%. Outside China there has only been 2 deaths. High income country healthcare systems seem to be well prepared to prevent spreading.
In contrast, I asked a Pharmasist here in Germany today how many people ask her about Corona, Face masks and hand sanitisers: She said, about 50% of the people that came in during the past week. 50% of people compared to 99% of the cases being in China.
Much more hype than reality. My view is that as soon as new infection cases plateau this will be "Schnee von gestern" as we say in Germany.
Regards, Fel
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