sourceBrendan McDermid/Reuters

Global stocks dropped on Tuesday as investors braced for a wider outbreak of the mysterious coronavirus as hundreds of millions of people travel across Asia to celebrate Chinese New Year this weekend.

Chinas National Health Commission confirmed cases of the SARS-like virus spreading between humans on Monday. The disease has already infected 224 people and killed four, according to the Financial Times. The World Health Organization will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether to declare the outbreak an international public health emergency.

Travel, retail, and luxury goods stocks fell sharply on concerns that the disease will hit demand. Airlines slumped on fears of crimped travel plans. Pharma stocks in China rose by their 10% daily limit. A maker of face masks in China surged.

Markets are worried about this spreading to more cities, said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.

Heres the market roundup as of 9:10 a.m. in London (4:10 a.m. ET):

The worry is this is another SARS, an outbreak that saw thousands infected and led to hundreds of deaths, said Wilson in a morning note. It also led to billions of dollars of losses and hit Chinese GDP growth by up to one percentage point.

We dont know how bad this will be, but with authorities confirming the disease can spread between humans, its wise to be on guard for this outbreak to get worse before it gets better, he added.

The rest is here:
Stocks are sinking on fears of the deadly virus in China Markets are worried about this spreading to more cities - Business Insider