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Wuhan Coronavirus Hysteria…buying opportunity?

The Wuhan coronavirus continued to spook the markets.  Today is the 5th trading session since the virus was confirmed in the USA.  The S&P 500 was down over 1.5% today and nearly 2.6% since the virus was detected in the USA.

How does this compare with past viral hysteria?  The Ebola outbreak of September 2014 took 12 days for the S&P 500 to bottom and it dropped 5.8%.  (see chart)  Prior to that panic the market had already been in decline for over a week.

What’s important to understand is that fear frenzies are usually shorted lived.  Therefore, I took today’s volatility as an opportunity to buy, because overall I think the market has been very resilient.  In addition to adding to some core holdings, I also made the following new purchases:

  • FCX Freeport McMoRan
  • ISRG Intuitive Surgical
  • MU Micron
  • NVDA Nvidia
  • SBUX Starbucks
  • UNH UnitedHealth
  • XLB Materials ETF
  • YUMC Yum Brands China

Most of these prices are back to December or November levels.  I love to buy when things are on sale.  Can prices go lower?  Absolutely.  To paraphrase Billy Joel…”I might be WRONG, I might be RIGHT, I might be CRAZY!”

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