A local economics professor says stock market losses due to the coronavirus won’t be a problem for most investors, but the market impact isn’t the only potential issue.
Greg Tkacz, the chair of the StFX economics department, says the market has fallen roughly eight per cent because of the coronavirus, but that’s comparable to the effects of SARS and H1N1.
Tkacz tells The Hawk there’s a lot of volatility in the market at the moment.
“I think a lot of the issue right now going forward is going to be related to the uncertainty with this virus- the market is taking a wait-and-see approach, and reacting to any kind of new news that occurs,” he says. “If you have a long-term investment horizon, this is going to be basically a small blip over the long run, but if you are very close to retirement, hopefully you’re not too heavily exposed to stocks right now.”
Tkacz says those people should consider moving their money out of stocks into safer investments.
He says market instability isn’t the only concern with the spread of the coronavirus.
“The markets are obviously reacting to what’s going on, both in Canada and south of the border, in terms of the impact of this virus,” he says. “I think we might also start seeing some slowdown in the economy overall.”
Tkacz says China is the epicentre of the outbreak, so the demand for many products is no longer there.
He says that leaves some of our country’s exporters to China in a tough spot.
