Coronavirus impacting the stock market, but investors shouldn’t panic

The stock market opened higher Monday morning, after plummeting last week due to coronavirus fears.

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — The stock market opened higher Monday morning, after plummeting last week due to coronavirus fears.

Michael Oana, a certified retirement counselor, said this isn’t the first time a global sickness has impacted the stock market, and it probably won’t be the last.

China is an important part of the global economy. It’s also the epicenter for the current coronavirus outbreak.

“With China’s economy on pause right now with the coronavirus, the concern is two-fold. Number one, that the virus could continue to spread throughout the United States, slowing our economy. And two, what is going to be the disruption for the global supply chain?” said Oana. 

That can cause some fears, which impacts the market.

“The broader concern is that what sort of slow down could it cause? The economy was already limping along, and this sort of stress on the economy puts folks at an uneasy point in their investing cycle,” he said.

The biggest thing for investors is to not panic. Then, review your portfolio and investment plan.

“We get these brief periods of time where there’s uneasiness, there’s concern. For most investors, the first order of business is to remain calm,” said Oana. “If an investor has their portfolio well diversified, they should be okay in this downturn.”

Epidemics have impacted the stock market before; like with the Zika outbreak in 2016, Ebola in 2014 and SARS back in 2003. Generally, the market bounces back.

“Historically, what’s happened when these things appear, is it normally has a short term negative impact on the economy and the stock market. Then things tend to blow over over a long period of time,” said Oana. “This isn’t the first virus that we’ve dealt with. We’ve dealt with other trials and tribulations in the economy. The best thing to do is take a pause, remain calm, and there could be some opportunities involved with this.”

If you’re an investor thinking of getting involved in the stock market, it may be an inexpensive time to get in.