He added that most events were being rescheduled for the second half of the year from the originally planned second quarter. This might lead to a situation of events getting crammed in the venues late this year, which might force some to be cancelled due to lack of enough venues to serve them all.

Index Creative has targeted revenue growth this year of between 6 and 10 per cent to Bt1.9 billion, as it has backlog of events worth Bt900 million.

Kuntra Ladavalya Na Ayudhya, executive director of Finansia Syrus Securities, said at the seminar hosted by Krungthepturakij newspaper on Thursday (February 27) that share sell-off by investors due to mounting concerns of the Covid-19 outbreak , had led to the SET index falling 13 to 14 per cent from early this year to about 1,366 on February 26 – its lowest level in five years ago. Investors should start buying stocks with potential to rise, he suggested. The government is expected to launch a new economic stimulus package after the censure debate.

“If we look at 10-year statistic, whenever the index fell more than 8 per cent in 10 days, it made a v-shape rebound,” he said.  Kuntra advises buy of SISB share at Bt 12 per share. The SISB international school operator is expected to make a profit of B284 million this year, up from 220 million last year due to rising numbers of students and it is less impacted by the coronavirus epidemic. The expansion of school facility in Thonburi could accommodate another 4,000 students. He also suggested buy of RBF at Bt 5.50 a share which largely depends on domestic sales of food additives, and CHG at Bt3 a share as it will benefit from rising number of patients with Thais making up the majority.

MTC price at Bt65 a share is also recommended as it will benefit from lower financial cost after the central bank cut its policy rate while EA, a clean energy operator, is also a good buy at Bt 60 a share.

Padermpob Songkroh, authorised director at Yuanta Securities (Thailand), suggested share of BAM at a fair price of Bt30 as the asset management firm may buy assets at lower prices during the coronavirus outbreak. When the coronavirus outbreak is contained, investors should look at TOP with fair price at Bt62 and KCE at Bt26. STEC will benefit from government infrastructure projects and budget disbursement which is expected to start in April after several months of delay. TASCO will benefit from government projects, decreasing oil prices and its fair price should be Bt27, he added.

Kavee Chukitkasem, deputy managing director at Kasikorn Securities said he had not recommended any stocks to investors in the past two years, due to weak economic fundamentals,lower investment, weak consumption, ageing society and low competitiveness of Thai industries. But when the index is down 20 per cent from the previous high of 1,850, prices are cheap and present a good chance to buy. Investment is expected to yield positive returns in the next three years. Investors should look at firms with strong fundamentals. He suggested BDMS at Bt28 a share. BDMS’ acquisition of BH hospital will increase the number its internal patients, given BH’s client base. Next is MINT,a hotel chain at Bt45 a share as it is expected to rebound in the

long term. He also likes AOT, the state airports operator, at a fair price of Bt 75 a share, due to expected growth in tourist arrivals . CPALL at Bt80/share is an attractive buy due to its network of convenient stores and large number of warehouses and well-managed logistics. The company has a large cash flow, and if it could win the bid for Tesco, its cash flow will rise but in short run, it will be under pressure from borrowing cost, he said. Next is ADVANCE with fair price at Bt226, because the mobile phone operator needs not to invest much in 5G network, it will have more cash for dividend payment , he added.

Pichai Lertsupongkit, senior vice president at Thanachart Securities, said short sell and forced sell had sent the market down sharply . He predicted that the Bank of Thailand will cut benchmark rate again on March 25 when the Monetary Policy Committee convenes and the government will implement more economic stimulus package.

If the Covid-19 outbreak persists, investors should look at SEAFCO with fair price at Bt8 a piece. It will benefit from government project, offer high dividend payment and low P/E at 10 times. He recommended COM7 at Bt32 a share as it will benefit from 5G projects and it has not yet impacted by the coronavirus. He also suggested PTTEP with fair price at Bt 152 a share, it will benefits from rising oil prices and its share had dropped sharply. AOT at Bt80 will benefit from tourism growth and MINT at Bt42 a share as lower interest rate will cut its financial cost, he added.

In Copenhagen and Marseille, Maersk and CMA CGM, a pair of major cargo shippers, are watching orders on their Asian routes evaporate, casualties of Chinese factories that are still operating well below capacity.

And in Stuttgart, automaker Daimler, which employs nearly 174,000 German workers, warned the epidemic could mean “significant adverse effects on production, the procurement market and the supply chain.”

The coronavirus, which has killed nearly 2,800 people worldwide and all but paralyzed China for the past month, now is targeting Europe’s $19 trillion economy. With countries such as China, Italy and Japan that account for 30% of global output already feeling the ailment’s effects, the danger of more severe global turmoil is mounting.

“The economic effects of a severe pandemic could be as bad as those of the global financial crisis” of 2008, Capital Economics, a London-based research consultancy, warned clients on Wednesday.

Along with disrupting major industries and turning trading screens red, the uncontrolled outbreak could also shake European politics by boosting nationalist sentiment.

European Union officials earlier this week rejected calls to suspend the 1985 Schengen agreement, which eliminated border checks in a 26-country region, saying such closures would do little to curb the epidemic.

But with nationalist parties gaining strength in countries such as Germany and Italy, the border-jumping coronavirus threatens to merge with economic worries to create a more potent anti-globalization force. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire last week complained of an “over-dependence” on Chinese industrial suppliers, echoing the views of Peter Navarro, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers.

“The political consequences are possibly more daunting than the economic ones,” said Douglas Rediker, chairman of International Capital Strategies. “The integration of Europe, deeper, wider, broader – which was already being questioned – this runs the risk that the economics and politics feed off each other and you end up being less cohesive.”

The epidemic’s economic fallout is quickly accumulating.

Cancellations are pouring in at the Acampora Travel agency in central Venice, just a few minutes’ walk from Piazza San Marco, the city’s famed central square.

On Wednesday morning, two groups from Mauritius backed out of tours they had planned for the end of March and early April, citing Italy’s growing coronavirus outbreak. The Mauritian travelers feared getting stuck in a 14-day quarantine after returning home, said Georgia, an Acampora travel agent who would give only her first name.

“We’ve had a lot of cancellations, and for us it’s a terrible moment,” she said. “It seems like someone wants to kill all of the tourist industry and economy.”

Indeed, an Italian hotel association two days earlier had pleaded via tweet for “urgent intervention” on a national scale, “before the long wave of cancellations turns into a tsunami, forcing many companies to reduce their staff or even to close their doors.”

The coronavirus has been a fearful challenge everywhere. In China, the interruption of normal factory operations came just as the country hoped to shake off the effects of a two-year trade war with the United States. In South Korea, site of the largest Asian outbreak outside of China, a cluster of nearly 1,300 cases is slowing an economy that was beginning to accelerate.

But the virus poses special challenges for the European Union, which is already preoccupied with Brexit, the United Kingdom’s departure from the E.U., and the threat of a tariff war with Trump.

Indeed, after a decade of financial crisis and anemic economic growth, a fatal epidemic is the last thing Europe needs.

Even before the coronavirus – and its associated illness, covid-19 – established a foothold in Italy, the continent’s major economies were expected to grow just a bit more than 1% this year. Now the outbreak’s inevitable disruption to the tourism, manufacturing and retail industries threatens to tip the European Union into outright recession.

“Things are going to get pretty bad in Europe,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

In recent days, the virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, before spreading to South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Iran, Afghanistan and Bahrain, became a European problem.

A swath of northern Italy, responsible for about 30% of the country’s economy, is under lockdown after authorities reported more than 280 cases and 11 deaths.

France reported the first death of a French citizen. Elsewhere, Spain confirmed at least eight new cases in the past 24 hours and new infections were reported in Germany, Greece, France, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland.

Disruption quickly rippled across the borderless European economy. The French national rail line SNCF said some of its Milan-bound trains are stopping at the border with Italy, where Italian crews are replacing French personnel, according to French media reports.

In Prague, airport authorities said travelers arriving from Italy would be herded through designated gates. And the E.U. Parliament advised staff who had recently traveled to China or Italy to stay home for at least 14 days, believed to be the incubation period for the virus.

Some financial markets in Europe have lost more ground so far this year than in the United States. The blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 has dropped more than 7% compared with a loss on the Dow Jones industrial average of about 5.5%.

Since Jan. 20, the disease has stripped $4 trillion from the value of global stock markets.

In Europe, the most visible economic damage is hitting the tourist sector, just as Americans are preparing for spring travel.

Tourism is big business in Europe, home to celebrated attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, the Sistine Chapel and the Prado Museum. The tourism sector accounts for 3.9% of Europe’s GDP and nearly 12 million jobs, according to the E.U. Among the fastest-growing sources of tourist revenue has been China. Chinese tourists in 2018 spent a total of 22 million nights in European hotels, almost five times as many as a decade earlier.

The virus is affecting some of Europe’s most popular destinations, including Milan, Venice and top ski resorts. Coronavirus fears already led organizers to cancel a major technology industry conference in Barcelona this week and to end Venice’s popular Carnival season two days early.

More troubling scenes appeared on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife, where 1,000 people were quarantined in a beachfront hotel after a tourist tested positive for coronavirus, according to Spanish authorities and the island’s hotel association, Ashotel. The visitor came from Italy’s Lombardy region, according to Spanish media reports.

The hotel association pleaded for “calm and tranquility,” insisting the island has “a first-level health service” that follows established protocols. Sky News posted footage of hotel guests gazing listlessly from their balconies while police with protective masks – some wearing them, some allowing them to dangle around their necks – stood watch outside.

“It is increasingly possible that we will see a sustained disruption in global trade, cross-border travel, and global supply chains,” Tony Roth, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust, wrote in a note to clients. “The cancellation of large gatherings in Europe, including the Milan fashion show and the Venice Carnival celebration, foreshadow a longer lasting economic hit to companies in virtually every industry.”

The risk of recession in Europe or Japan, he added, “has dramatically risen.”

The European Central Bank is poorly armed for the battle against this unexpected economic shock. Its key interest rate already is negative, meaning the ECB charges banks for holding their excess deposits. Monetary authorities also already resumed their asset purchase program last fall, buying 20 million euros of bonds each month to stimulate the sagging economy.

“Monetary policy in the euro zone is exhausted,” said David Kotok, chairman of Cumberland Advisors, an investment firm in Sarasota, Fla. “They’re going to have a recession.”

ECB officials for years have tried to cajole European political leaders – especially in Germany – into stimulating the moribund economy with big spending projects. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with an eye on the country’s constitutional debt limit, has long resisted such fiscal stimulus.

But this week, the German finance minister is reportedly preparing to ease the so-called debt brake to help local government finances. On Wednesday, ECB President Christine Lagarde welcomed the move, saying “any fiscal measures intended to support the economy are certainly very welcome, particularly under present circumstances.”

Still, there are concerns about the perennially unstable Italian government’s capacity to deal with the virus, which comes as Germany is enduring a rocky political transition from Merkel’s 15-year chancellorship.

“The coronavirus, like any epidemic, is a stress test for governance and societies,” said Posen.

Europe also may soon face the same dilemma that China confronted as its epidemic swelled. Restrictions on large gatherings, including on public transit systems, entertainment venues and workplaces, inevitably depress business activity.

“I get the sense we’re heading into a new phase here,” said economist Stephanie Segal, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The containment measures themselves do have an economic impact.”

Segal said the problem for policymakers may get tougher over time. If the economic hit is long-lasting, losses will spread from factories and offices into the financial sector. An interruption in the normal flow of credit is what distinguishes a standard economic recession from the sort of crisis that swept the globe in 2008.

“So far, Euroland banks are not facing a credit squeeze or liquidity demand in the wake of lockdown and quarantine policies – first in China and now in Europe as well,” economist Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics wrote this week. “We do not know if this will last.”

Futures recovered about half of their 5.9% slide in New York in a brief reprieve from their sell-off after Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said the group and its allies are showing a “renewed commitment” to reaching an agreement next week that will stabilize oil markets. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes pared declines after sinking as much as 10% from all-time highs set this month as the coronavirus spread outside of China.

“The fast-evolving impacts of the virus mean the challenge is akin to catching a falling knife,” Bill Farren-Price, a director at consultant RS Energy Group, now part of Enverus, said in an email. “Agree too-small a cut and risk undermining credibility, or over-tighten the market and boost oil prices just at the time when the global economy is flirting with a downturn.”

Oil has fallen more than 22% this year as the virus hit a market already awash with supply. Investors are assessing whether the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will be able to agree on deeper output cuts at a meeting in Vienna next week. Saudi Arabia is reducing March crude supply to China by 500,000 barrels a day due to lower demand, Reuters reported, citing people familiar.

Oil could fall below $30 a barrel if OPEC+ fails to agree a production cut, Standard Chartered analysts Emily Ashford and Paul Horsnell wrote in a report. Russia has so far resisted pressure from Saudi Arabia for an OPEC+ agreement to cut production further as the virus hits demand.

West Texas Intermediate futures fell 3.1% to $47.21 a barrel as of 1:01 p.m. local time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent lost 2.5% to $52.12 on ICE Futures Europe.

Though prices have fallen, not all indicators are showing weakness. The April Brent contract, which will expire on Friday, is trading at a premium of about 50 cents to May, indicating supply tightness in the North Sea. That’s despite a nosedive in so-called time-spreads further down the futures curve, with the closely-watched December 2020-2021 differential at the weakest in more than a year on Thursday, highlighting the market’s demand concerns.

“I think it would be premature, until we have more data and have an idea of what the forecast is, to think about monetary policy action,” Evans told reporters Thursday after an event in Mexico City. “But we’re monitoring it very closely, and if we see something that does require adjustment, I’m confident we’ll give that all the consideration it needs.”

The U.S. stock market continued to tumble Thursday, extending declines for a sixth session, amid worries about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The S&P 500 has dropped around 10% since Feb. 19. The yield on 10-year Treasury securities briefly fell to a new record low of 1.24%.

Investors are rushing into bets that Federal Reserve officials will be forced to cut interest rates when they next gather in Washington for their March 17-18 meeting. Chances of quarter-point reductions at each of their next three meetings — in March, April and June — are now seen to be above 50%, according to futures contracts linked to their benchmark federal funds rate.

Evans told reporters the Fed has the capacity to respond if necessary, adding that it would take a few months to have an idea of what the appropriate response would be.

“If circumstances required some additional accommodation, we have that capacity. The first way I’m going to think about this is whether or not lending behavior is adversely influenced,” Evans said. “After several months, and having a better idea of how this is going to transpire through this year, I think we will be better positioned to think about what the implications might be for monetary policy.”

Fed No. 2 Richard Clarida said on Tuesday that it was “still too soon to even speculate” about the size or persistence of any effects on the U.S. outlook and that the central bank had monetary policy in a good place.

Evans echoed that sentiment.

“I think that our monetary policy is pretty well positioned for the risks that we have seen coming,” he told reporters. “I would say that this was not on my radar screen when we made three rate cuts last year, but I certainly feel better about the positioning of policy with any type of additional risk that we might be facing.”

The Dow closed at 25,767 on Thursday, down 4.4 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the tech-rich Nasdaq also dove. The Dow is now nearly 13 percent off its recent high. Its 10-day plunge is the swiftest dive by the blue chips since 2011.

“Every day we think we could be near a bottom, and every day we are not,” Helane Becker, an analyst at the financial services firm Cowen, wrote in a note Thursday.

In a blink, Wall Street’s free-fall this week erased one-third of stocks’ gain since President Donald Trump’s November 2016 election. Amid mounting criticism of the administration’s handling of the epidemic, the president suddenly finds himself battling a medical, economic and political emergency.

The health challenge was underscored by confirmation in California of the first U.S. case that could not be linked to travel to China or to contact with a known coronavirus patient. On the economic front, Facebook canceled its largest annual developer conference while manufacturers worried about Chinese suppliers that have not yet resumed normal production. Tesla’s stock price fell 13 percent Thursday alone.

But even as the life-or-death stakes and the financial toll loomed, political considerations were inescapable. In crowded rallies and White House events, the soaring stock market has been a staple of Trump’s re-election pitch to voters. “Highest Stock Market in history, By Far!” the president tweeted just eight days ago.

On Monday, after a 1,032-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, Trump – a billionaire real estate executive who prides himself on his financial acumen – doubled down, tweeting: “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

It has continued falling ever since, and now after a brutal four-day stretch, the market looks anything but good. Some Wall Street veterans said the virus was an external shock that had awakened investors to a sobering outlook. “We were operating in never-never land for some time,” said Dan Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, a Manhattan-based investment bank.

The market reaction came one day after the president sought to reassure the nation at a White House press conference with members of his coronavirus task force, but was assailed for what critics said was a contradictory message.

“He staked his presidency on containing the virus,” said David Kotok, chairman of Cumberland Advisors. “The markets have repudiated him with a 1,000-point drop on the heels of a 1,000-point drop.”

The epidemic, which has spread from its origins in China to Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran, the U.S., and numerous other countries, seems certain to put a sizable dent in global growth. Earlier this week, Capital Economics in London warned that the economic consequences of the spread of the coronavirus to multiple continents “could be as bad as those of the global financial crisis.”

The U.S. economy will average just 1.25 percent growth over the first half of the year, as the virus disrupts supply chains and keeps workers and shoppers on the sidelines, economist Michael Feroli of JPMorgan Chase Bank wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. That would be roughly half the pace of last year.

Whatever the danger to the U.S. economy, Europe seems to be in even worse shape. The continent’s major economies were expected to grow by little more than 1 percent before the virus forced Italy to lockdown northern territories that are responsible for almost one-third of the country’s production.

Now, recession looms as a genuine risk for Germany and Italy. After a decade of chronic weak growth and financial crises, European Central Bank officials have all but emptied their tool kit, leaving them with little ability to reverse the decline.

And in the U.S. on Thursday, the three major fell into correction territory, a 10 percent reversal from a recent high that signals something is amiss to numbers-obsessed Wall Street. The speed of the declines was startling, with the Dow Jones industrial average tumbling from its all-time peak in only 10 sessions. The blue chip index lost more than 3,200 points this week and had its worst point drop in history on Thursday.

“The Dow’s four-day decline this week is 11.13 percent, the worst since October 2008, when the blue chips fell 15 percent in four days,” said Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices. The S&P has lost 12.04 percent in the last six sessions, which is also the fastest decline to correction since 2011.

It’s unclear when the uncertainty over the global public health crisis will end, which is a major reason why Wall Street investors remain on edge.

“A 10 percent correction doesn’t mean anything to Joe Q. Public,” said Kenny Polcari of SlateStone Wealth. “But to Wall Street, which marks everything by numbers, it suggests a turning point in market psyche.”

Polcari said the good news about the panic-driven correction is that it suggests an emotional response and may be only temporary.

“A slower decline based on crumbling market fundamentals, which is not the case so far, would be more worrisome,” Polcari said.

Analysts expected the market to rebound strongly after a worldwide plunge Monday. But coronavirus cases have continued to pop up around the world, squashing rallies. The extreme volatility could persist until there are signs that the outbreak is under control, analysts say, despite warnings from health officials that community spread in the U.S. appears inevitable.

European stocks also entered correction territory on Thursday. The Pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 4 percent. Britain’s FTSE dropped 3.5 percent, and Germany’s DAX fell 3.2 percent. In Italy – the country with Europe’s weakest economic growth in 2019 – Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte this week said the economic blow could be “very strong.”

From an economic standpoint, much of the focus had been on coronavirus’s repercussions for global supply chains, which rely heavily on manufacturing and production from Chinese factories. But now that public health officials are bracing for the outbreak to spread in the United States, experts worry about an additional threat to the economy. Daily routines and consumer spending could grind to a halt if schools are closed, large gatherings are canceled and businesses close their doors.

“This is a surprise,” said Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller & Washington. “This is something that the 30-year-old cohort of money managers and analysts haven’t seen before. This supply chain disruption is going to affect all economies, and markets are still trying to figure it out. ”

Oil prices also continued to drop. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, drifted below $47, a new 53-week low. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit a new low, reflecting the anticipation that a slowdown is on the horizon.

Goldman Sachs said in a note Thursday that the virus would slow economic activity across the planet. The financial services giant predicts no earnings growth this year and modest earnings growth in 2021.

“Our reduced profit forecasts reflect the severe decline in Chinese economic activity in [the first three months of 2020], lower end-demand for U.S. exporters, disruption to the supply chain for many U.S. firms, a slowdown in U.S. economic activity, and elevated business uncertainty,” Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin wrote in a note.

The outbreak has been met with inconsistent messaging from the Trump administration. Trump, concerned about the stock market, is urging aides not to discuss the outbreak in ways that could rattle the economy further. Late Monday, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that investors should consider “buying these dips” in the market.

When the coronavirus outbreak first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan, analysts initially sized up any potential hit to the global economy based on the 2002 SARS outbreak. But in the nearly 20 years since, the Chinese economy has become four times larger substantially more intertwined with global production networks.

Coronavirus’ rapid spread continues to raise the specter of a global pandemic. South Korea announced 505 new cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,766, including a U.S. soldier stationed on the peninsula. Iran reported 245 confirmed cases and a death toll of 26. Religious pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia have been halted, and Tokyo’s plans to host the 2020 Olympics hang in the balance.

Even so, Trump struck an optimistic tone Wednesday evening during a White House news conference. Trump said the risk to America was “very low” and that the outbreak would swiftly be contained. Trump announced Vice President Pence will lead the administration’s response to the outbreak. And on Thursday, his comments remained upbeat, even after the steep stock market drop.

“I think it’s an incredible achievement what our country’s done,” Trump he told reporters at the White House, predicting eventually the virus would disappear.

This follows their signing on February 20 of amended contracts for two BEM expressways, which extended the company’s concession terms.

The Cabinet recently approved a Transport Ministry proposal to extend the two expressway concessions to the end of October 2035 in exchange for BEM dropping its legal challenges.

Saksayam send the end of litigation means the amended contracts will take effective on March 1.

One contract involves the Si Rat Expressway, also known as the Second Stage Expressway, and its Sectors A (Rama 9-Ratchadapisek), B (Phayathai-Bangkhlo), C (Ratchadapisek-Chaeng Watthana) and D (Bang Pa-in-Pakret).

Concessions for Sectors A, B and C were originally scheduled to expire at the end of this month and for Sector D in April 2027.

The second contract involves the Udon Ratthaya Expressway (Bang Pa-in-Pakret Expressway), with the original concession ending in 2026.

All three indexes entered correction territory after the open, having fallen 10 percent from their recent highs. The Dow was down 650 points by late morning, or about 2.3 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq composite were down 2.3 and 2.8 percent, respectively.

As of late Thursday morning, the S&P 500 had suffered its worst percentage drop — 9.05 percent — in a calendar week since October 2008, said Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“At this point, if we closed here, it would be the worst Monday through Friday drop for the S&P 500 since the 18.20 percent decline in October 2008,” Silverblatt said. “The current and largest concern now is if consumers start pulling back on their spending. Consumer spending has been supporting the economy.”

Global markets also shuddered as the outbreak continues to spread beyond China. Japan’s Nikkei was down more than 2 percent as many Japanese schools were closed through early April.

European stocks also entered correction territory on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 4 percent. Britain’s FTSE dropped 4.2 percent, as did and Germany’s DAX. In Italy — the country with Europe’s weakest economic growth in 2019 — Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte this week said the economic blow could be “very strong.”

From an economic standpoint, much of the focus had been on coronavirus’ repercussions for global supply chains, which rely heavily on manufacturing and production from Chinese factories. But now that public health officials are bracing for the outbreak to spread in the U.S., experts worry about an additional threat to the economy. Daily routines and consumer spending could grind to a halt if schools are closed, large gatherings are canceled and businesses close their doors.

Oil prices also continued to drop, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit a new low, reflecting the anticipation that a slowdown is on the horizon.

The Wilshire 5000 has fallen five days in a row, the longest losing streak of 2020 and the longest string of negative days since September 24, 2019. The five-day loss of 2,792.16 points or 8.09 percent, represents a paper loss of approximately $2.9 trillion.

Goldman Sachs said in a note Thursday that the virus would slow economic activity across the planet. The financial services giant predicts no earnings growth this year and modest earnings growth in 2021.

“Our reduced profit forecasts reflect the severe decline in Chinese economic activity in 1Q, lower end-demand for US exporters, disruption to the supply chain for many US firms, a slowdown in US economic activity, and elevated business uncertainty,” Goldman strategist David Kostin wrote in a note.

The outbreak has been met with inconsistent messaging from the Trump administration. President Trump is highly concerned about the stock market and is urging aides not to discuss the outbreak in ways that could rattle the economy further. Late Monday, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that investors should consider “buying these dips” in the market.

Still, analysts point to stark underperformance in oil, travel and leisure sectors, plus industries dependent on Chinese supply chains.

“If you’re looking for something to worry about, take your eyes off the stock ticker tape and look instead at the bond and oil markets,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. “They continue to flash warning signals about the economy’s strength. And stock investors might be well served by watching them to confirm that any rally has legs.”

When the coronavirus outbreak first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan, analysts initially sized up any potential hit to the global economy based on the 2002 SARS outbreak. But in the nearly 20 years since, the Chinese economy has become much more substantial and intertwined, triggering extreme uncertainty for economies and businesses worldwide.

“Every day we think we could be near a bottom, and every day we are not,” Cowen analyst Helane Becker wrote in a note early Thursday. “Today, there were more reports of the virus showing up in places like Croatia, France, Germany, Austria, Greece and elsewhere. Borders are lines on a map. The virus has spread, and the question is how much do people change their travel plans.”

Coronavirus’s rapid spread continues to raise the specter of a global pandemic. South Korea announced 505 new cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1,766, including a U.S. soldier stationed on the peninsula. Iran reported 245 confirmed cases and a death toll of 26. Religious pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia have been halted and Tokyo’s plans to host the 2020 Olympics hang in the balance.

Even so, President Donald Trump struck an optimistic tone Wednesday evening during a White House news conference. Trump said the risk to America was “very low” and that the outbreak would swiftly be contained. Trump announced that Vice President Mike Pence will lead the administration’s response to the outbreak.

“We’ve had tremendous success, tremendous success beyond what many people would’ve thought,” Trump said. “We’re very, very ready for this.”

But immediately following Trump’s comments, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat warned Americans to prepare for the number of cases to grow.

“We can expect to see more cases in the United States,” Azar said.

“We do expect more cases,” Schuchat said.

The latest fallout came earlier this week when a three-week shoot set in Venice for the seventh “Mission Impossible” film series was put on hold after the number of confirmed cases in Italy reached into triple digits.

“Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew, and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of coronavirus, we are altering the production plan,” a representative from Paramount Pictures said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor this situation, and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.”

The coronavirus has already shut down much of China and its film industry, and officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies said this week it is “inevitable” that the virus would spread here.

China is the largest movie market outside the United States, and the domestic film industry could be severely affected if the virus spreads domestically.

Some film executives are already reacting. In addition to halting production on “Mission: Impossible VII,” Paramount has indefinitely suspended the Chinese release of “Sonic the Hedgehog,” which has been dominating the domestic box office. The releases of “Dolittle,” “1917,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Little Women” there have also been suspended. A promotional tour and premiere scheduled to take place in April for the latest James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” has already been canceled.

On a recent earnings call, Imax chief executive Richard Gelfond said the company “faced head winds in China early this year due to the coronavirus,” which made for a “tough start” to 2020. “While the coronavirus is a serious short-term challenge, we see it as a rare, out-of-the-ordinary event that will ultimately pass,” he added.

An analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid called the situation a “big mess” and told The Washington Post there is consternation in the film industry, partially because of how unprecedented the situation is. “We haven’t seen anything like this before, and we don’t know long it will last,” he said. “China now is a much bigger part of the overall box office than when SARS occurred.”

Before the outbreak, China was expected to surpass the United States as the largest movie market in the world this year, according to B. Riley FBR analyst Eric Wold.

Compounding the problem is that China began shuttering movie theaters just before the Lunar New Year, a time when they historically see the most foot traffic. As noted in the Hollywood Reporter, “Ticket revenue in China in the three weeks following the shutdown totaled just $3.9 million, compared to $1.52 billion during the same stretch last year.”

Studios are presented with a few difficult choices. They can release a film into a country that isn’t going to movie theaters (and, for the most part, isn’t able to). They can delay a film in hopes that they’ll be able to later release it in China, making it subject to the country’s restrictive policies on imported films. (As Peter Schloss, CEO at CastleHill Partners, a Beijing-based bank focused on the entertainment industry, told the Hollywood Reporter, “Imported films are likely to suffer in the rescheduling as we have to expect Chinese films to get priority.” Plus, as Wold noted, even if every film is eventually released in China, moviegoers may not immediately feel comfortable rushing back to reopened theaters.) Or they can send a film straight to video or streaming services, meaning they would probably never recoup production costs – much less turn a profit. (This is unlikely, Wold said, as it “would set a bad precedent.”)

Analysts seem confident that the current situation is a weatherable storm for these studios. What could prove potentially devastating for domestic studios is a widespread outbreak in the United States, one that keeps people sequestered in their homes.

“The real risk with the domestic market is if we see theater closures like we’ve seen in international markets. Do we get to the point where theaters are actually closing or where consumers don’t feel comfortable going into places where people are congregating?” Wold asked, pointing out that “where stock prices are hit the most in the past couple of days, it’s theater stocks, theme park stocks and places where people congregate.”

Still, he emphasized, “At this point, it’s perceived risk more so than actual risk.”

Central bank assistant governor Nawaron Dejsuvan said recently that the BOT had already discussed related issues with all banks, which have already stepped up measures to ensure safety of bank customers and staff.

The banks have already issued guidelines on proper practices to staff who travel to risk-prone countries.

She added that the central bank is closely monitoring the situation of the outbreak and continued to evaluate the situation with the banks.