Businesses continue to face uncertainty as coronavirus spreads. Photo / File
Businesses continue to face uncertainty as coronavirus spreads. Photo / File
Markets will remain highly volatile as countries across the globe scramble to contain the fast-spreading covid-19.
In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asked all businesses that can operate without opening their offices to do so from today.
However, while she said the government's approach was to "go hard and go early", more than 10,000 people have signed a petition created by a Wellington urgent care physician calling for the government to ramp up its Covid-19 response, according to Radio NZ.
Petition author Dr Kelvin Ward said without immediate action, New Zealand risked suffering the same fate as Italy and the United States - running out of supplies, turning patients away and the possibility they may die needlessly.
Across the ditch, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday ordered many venues, including pubs, casinos, gyms and cinemas, to close from midday Monday to combat coronavirus after many people appeared to disregard health warnings and congregated in large numbers in recent days.
Australia had 1,098 confirmed cases as of Sunday with seven deaths linked to the illness. The number jumped around 200 from Saturday.
New Zealand has 66 cases.
Wall Street ended lower Friday after the number of US cases continued to skyrocket and different states impose stay-at-home orders for residents. New York alone now has more than 15,000 cases.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 4.6 per cent, while the S&P 500 ended down 4.3 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 4.0 per cent.
According to AP, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his city is in desperate need of ventilators and other medical supplies and staff, and lambasted the White House as non-responsive.
According to the Australian Financial Review, all three US benchmarks are poised for a 4.2 per cent drop on Monday in New York.
The ongoing volatility will likely weigh on New Zealand's market today. Air New Zealand may continue to see some pressure as it begins to lay off 30 per cent of its staff. The stock fell 35.7 per cent to 99 cents Friday as investors judged the bailout to be too small.
NZME, which owns the Herald, also announced to the market this morning that the company's full-year results are expected to be impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. The extent of this impact is still unclear, but the company has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce costs and capital expenditure across the business.
Dental firm Abano announced to the stock market this morning that all non-essential dental services will be suspended from today. While too early to be definitive, the company said it considers it possible that these developments may give rise to a "material adverse change" to the business.
Domestically, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand made a big move this morning, announcing it would buy back $30 billion in government bonds to mitigate the harm caused to the economy.
The Kiwi dollar was trading at 56.80 at 8am on Monday and "remains both volatile and vulnerable," she said.
"Additional fiscal stimulus packages are coming thick and fast across the globe and, while NZ is poised to do more, there's no hiding from the importance to our economy of trade and tourism," said Zollner.
