Many Investors Have Yet to Factor in Virus Hit, Bernstein Says

(Bloomberg) --

The coronavius has already cost more than $9 trillion in global stock-market value, but many investors have yet to factor in its impact, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. says.

Only 21% of money managers have “fully” adjusted their portfolios to reflect the risk associated with the outbreak, while 44% of them haven't, according to the results of a survey conducted by Bernstein and published Tuesday. That's even though they expect a 1% hit to this year's global economic growth, the poll found.

Worries about the impact of the virus outbreak sent global stock markets plunging last week, with Treasury yields hitting record lows as investors fled to safer assets. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees global gross domestic product shrinking on a quarterly basis in the first half of the year, before rebounding through the rest of 2020.

Of course, appetite for risk may change at any time -- the MSCI All-Country World Index jumped the most since November 2011 on Monday as global central banks pledged measures to counter the health emergency. The world's top finance ministers will also discuss their response to it Tuesday.

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The Bernstein poll showed money managers are the most bearish on energy and consumer-discretionary shares, and the least bearish on health care. It surveyed 382 institutional investors through Friday who have a combined $37 trillion of assets under management.

To contact the reporter on this story: Moxy Ying in Hong Kong at yying13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Cecile Vannucci, Kurt Schussler

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