Fashion giants lose $29.5 billion in the stock market over coronavirus

Fast fashion spreads affliction over coronavirus, at least in the stock market. Since last December 31, the time at which the World Health Organization (WHO) received an alert from the Chinese authorities for the appearance of a series of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in the city of Wuhan, the four global giants of large fashion distribution, Inditex, H&M, Fast Retailing and Gap, have lost $29.5 billion from their market capitalization.

The crisis, officially known as Covid-19, has had a full impact on international markets and fashion has not broken free from the impact of the virus upon investor confidence. Besides fast fashion giants, global giants from fields such as luxury or sports fashion have also taken hits in the stock markets since December 31.

In luxury, LVMH, Kering and Richemont, the three largest multinationals in the world of this industry, have jointly lost $47 billion of market capitalization, while Nike and Adidas, global leaders in fashion and sports equipment, left behind $56.9 billion.

LVMH, Kering and Richemont have jointly lost $47 billion of market capitalization

None of these nine companies has escaped the unfavorable cycle in international markets, which has increased in recent weeks after the first cases of contamination and the surge of the death toll in numerous countries. In any case, the falls are in line with those suffered by all the stock markets and selective references such as the American Dow Jones, which since December 31, lost 11% of its value.

Among the international giants of fast fashion, the biggest drop since December 31 has been that of Gap, whose securities have devalued by 18.95%. The Japanese Fast Retailing comes in second, with strong implantation in China; it has decreased by 17.78%. Inditex and H&M, meanwhile, have suffered adjustments of 10.6% and 9%, respectively.

In luxury, the largest of the three business groups, the French LVMH, has been the least affected by the crisis of confidence over the coronavirus, with a 10.5% stock market devaluation. In the case of Kering, it fell by 13.6%, and Richemont, down by 14%.

On the other hand, among the great champions of sports fashion the most affected in the stock market has been Adidas, with an adjustment of 13.5%, meanwhile, Nike’s securities were weakened by 11.8%.