Recent market volatility is more than just COVID-19

Some investors will tell you a storm was brewing before the coronavirus roiled the markets.

The trade war made them anxious. Many believe stocks have been overvalued. And, it’s an election year, with giant economic issues at play.

Late last year, the Boston Consulting Group surveyed analysts and asset managers. Many worried the bull market was running out of steam. And now, the COVID-19 disease caused by coronavirus.

“Uncertainty is something that makes investors sit more on the edge than they otherwise would,” said Hady Farag, a partner and associate director at BCG. “So their finger is just a little bit closer to the sell button.”

The S&P 500 hit a record high nearly two weeks ago, but what goes up usually comes down.

The coronavirus has brought things down fast.

“I can promise you that nobody expected anything like this,” Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said. “It’s happened in the space of a few days. So it has now become really very alarming.”

But while COVID-19 is hitting the markets hard, it’s not the only thing going on.