Markets looked like they would be crushed yet again on Monday despite the emergency Federal Reserve rate cut announced on Sunday. The COVID-19 concerns are only growing, and markets are selling off yet again. In fact, Monday morning saw another big gap down, and markets were halted within the first 10 minutes of trading as the S&P 500 had dropped the requisite 7%.
Coronavirus fears are now a pandemic of their own. All major American averages most recently closed down close to 10%. The Dow Jones industrials had their worst percentage loss today since 1987 and the worst point loss ever. While last Thursday’s move was largely driven by the president’s travel ban, the coronavirus was integral to this and the underlying concerns are becoming increasingly real. Currently, the gains for the year for each of these major averages have been completely wiped out, and then some.
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, China first faced the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which spread to countries around the world. Global infections of roughly 173,000 people have been reported, and now more than half of these were outside of mainland China. However, there are concerns that these numbers could be underreported as testing kits are not widely available, and asymptomatic transmission is a troubling issue.
There are currently about 83,000 active cases of the coronavirus and over 84,500 closed cases. Of the cases with outcomes, nearly 78,000 of those infected have recovered, while there have been over 6,000 reported deaths.
The economic concerns over the coronavirus outbreak are mounting, and all sectors undoubtedly are feeling this. However, global gross domestic product numbers could see a drop as more companies take precautionary measures rather than risk infection. With a more cautious approach to business, it’s easy to see how the global economy is slamming the brakes, especially with China acting as one of the biggest manufacturers.
One troubling concern in the middle of all this is that some of these companies are not liquid enough to last for maybe two months without cash flow. Not only is it concerning about the companies, but also people who live paycheck to paycheck will undoubtedly hurt the worst from this.
24/7 Wall St. has tracked some stocks that either are defensive in general or were defying Monday’s big drop because they have some aspect of their business that might be immune to daily scares or they are potential beneficiaries of these moves. Note that while some of these stocks may be immune to some coronavirus shocks, not all are immune to a market downturn.
Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) shares were last seen down about 12.5% at $7.50 early Monday, in a 52-week range of $3.54 to $17.71. The consensus price target is $12.23.
Aytu BioScience Inc. (NASDAQ: AYTU) shares were up 29% to $1.50. The 52-week range is $0.34 to $2.99, and the consensus price target is $4.88.
Altimmune Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT) shares were down 9% to $2.62, in a 52-week range of $1.51 to $4.45. The consensus price target is $13.00.
NanoViricides Inc. (NYSE: NNVC) stock pushed 16% higher to $8.00. The 52-week range is $1.27 to $19.20.
Lakeland Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: LAKE) shares traded down 7% at $15.85, in a 52-week range of $9.70 to $28.00. The consensus price target is $16.00.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) shares were down 19% at $5.80. The 52-week range is $1.92 to $19.36, and the consensus price target is $10.43.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) shares were down about 6% at $66.11. The 52-week range is $60.89 to $80.40. The consensus price target is $74.04.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) shares were down about 1% at $166.03, in a 52-week range of $144.12 to $178.88. The consensus price target is $157.92.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) stock traded down 8% at $87.97, in a 52-week range of $84.32 to $118.58. The consensus price target is $110.20.
Co-Diagnostics Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX) stock retreated 12% to $8.66. It has a 52-week range of $0.69 to $21.75 and a consensus analyst target of $19.00.
Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) were last seen down 2% at $105.06, in a post-IPO range of $59.94 to $129.83.
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