Economy and capital markets: China in the spotlight

The spread of the coronavirus has rocked the markets: Wall Street has already dropped over 7% in a week. And although the outbreak appears be contained in China, we are now seeing more and more new cases outside China. The impact on the global economy in 2020 remains uncertain; however, it will probably be more serious than initially expected. The Canadian economy is in the eye of the storm, which now leads us to expect the Bank of Canada to cut its leading rate soon. For investors with an investment horizon of two to three years, and not two to three weeks, the stock market drop over the last few days appears to present a good buying opportunity, even if the markets remain volatile.