Humans have always been adapting to change. It’s one of the reasons they have prospered for so long. Yet there is no doubt in my mind that the coronavirus will change the world as we know it forever and that we will adapt.
The changes in behaviour will create winners and losers in the economy and the stock market. Over the last few weeks, people and businesses will have learned a great deal about themselves. They will have a much clearer view of what they really need and what is important to them and what they can do without.
The economy will bounce back. We just don’t know by how much and how long it will take. At the moment this has not stopped stock markets from rallying hard from their March lows as it seems the amount of freshly printed money the Federal Reserve throws at them matters more than actual fundamentals.
The next few weeks will see waves of reporting from companies and that is always a better window on what’s going on than the opinions of economists and financial journalists. The most enjoyable part of my job of writing and analysing companies and their businesses is understanding the tangible link with the real world - the process of selling real products and services to meet the needs of consumers and businesses. It's not about the funny money on the financial markets.
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