The growing fear over the toll on lives taken by the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a change in economic projections. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) lowered its U.S. growth outlook for the first quarter as the domestic economy takes a hit from the global outbreak. The bank slashed its U.S. gross economic product growth forecast to just 1.2% from 1.4%, seeing a more severe drag from the epidemic.
That growth rate is drastically slower than the 2.1% increase in the fourth quarter and 2.3% for the full year 2019. "The risks are clearly skewed to the downside until the outbreak is contained," Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief U.S. economist, said in a note on Monday. "An increasing amount of companies [are] suggesting potential production cuts should supply chain disruptions persist into Q2 or later."
The fear reached into stock markets Monday, with the Dow alone capsizing more than a thousand points by mid-afternoon.
