US equity markets suffered another round of sharp falls, with losses intensifying after the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak an official global pandemic - Dow slumped -1,465-points or -5.85% to 23,553.53, closing more than 20% below last month’s all-time closing high and ending the longest bull market in history. Boeing Co dropped -18.2% after announcing a number of MAX order cancellations when providing its monthly update to the market. The broader S&P500 dropped -4.89%, with all eleven primary sectors in the red and with Industrials (-5.94%), Financials (-5.52%), Energy (-5.46%), Real Estate (-5.44%), Consumer Discretionary (-5.36%) and Utilities (5.10%) all logging falls of greater than >5%. All but 8 S&P 500 stocks closed lower. The NASDAQ -4.71%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq narrowly avoided entering official bear market territory, with the S&P 500 closing -19.2% below its record intra-day high of 3,393.52 set on 19 February at 2,741.38. Goldman Sachs’ Chief Equity Strategist, David Kostin, set set a midyear target of 2,450 for the S&P 500. However, Mr Kostin expects a new bull market will begin during the second half of 2020 and has a year-end target for the benchmark index of 3,200. That would make for a 1% decline for 2020 (excluding dividends) and a 6% decline from the S&P 500’s intraday record high hit on 19 February.
