LYV - Why These Retail and Entertainment Stocks Crashed Today
Shares of retailers RH (NYSE: RH) and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) and event promoter Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) rode an ugly stock market down sharply on Monday. All three closed down more than 10%. Today's big drop came on what was easily the worst trading day for U.S. stocks since the throes of the global financial crisis more than a dozen years ago. Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials lost almost 8% of their value today as worries over the rapidly growing novel coronavirus outbreak accelerate.
Today's sell-off was ignited by weekend news that the coronavirus is indeed spreading rapidly around the world, with cases of COVID-19 now in more than 100 countries. As a result, more and more actions to limit the spread are being taken by governments, ranging from local quarantines to full-on border lockdowns. As a result, markets reacted today on the worst-case assumption that a global recession is more likely than ever (and may have already started).
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