Agile Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AGRX), like almost all small-cap biotech stocks, is having a really bad Monday. Shares of the early commercial-stage company are down 11.7% as of 10:46 a.m. EDT.
The culprit? The entire market is taking a step backwards today in response to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. Small-cap biotechs like Agile are taking a particularly hard hit because of their need to tap the public markets for capital on a regular basis. In short, it may become much harder to raise capital via secondary offerings if the global economy does indeed slip into a recession due to this deadly respiratory illness.
The steep plunge in crude oil prices is only adding to investors' unease.