Spain’s IBEX registers losses in excess of 110,000 million euros since first COVID-19 case

Spain’s IBEX stocks have continued to tumble this week, recording losses of 110,000 millions of euros since the first case of Coronavirus was reported in the country. The scenario is a common one around the world. Stocks fell further yesterday, with the European markets suffering some of the biggest losses since the beginning of the pandemic. Spain’s Ibex fell 3.54%, the French CAX 4.1%, Euro Stoxx 3.9%, UK’s FTSE 3.6% and the German DAX by 3.3%. In Asia, the Nikkei fell 2.72%, while the Dow Jones in the US reported a drop of 0.98%, after reporting bigger losses the day before.

Stocks in the tourism sector have been hit the hardest, with the airline industry suffering the most. The International Air Transport Association estimates 2020 global revenue losses for the passenger business to be between $63 billion (in a scenario where COVID-19 is contained in current markets with over 100 cases as of 2 March) and $113 billion (in a scenario with a broader spreading of COVID-19).

IAG, for example, which owns some of the world’s largest airline companies such as BA, Vueling and Iberia, have seen huge declines in the value of their stocks in the last 15 days, recording losses of around 5,462 millions of euros, according to El Pais.

“There’s little that news that can calm the markets right now,” said XTB’s stock analyst, Joaquín Robles, an analyst for Spain’s Bolsa de XTB. The financial markets have realised that “the impact of the Coronavirus is going to be a lot worse than originally thought”, added Nuria Álvarez, an analyst of Spain’s Renta 4 Banco.

The country’s analysts believe the situation is unlikely to change for at least a month, However, the real damage will not be seen until next month in April, when first quarter financial results come in.