Virus impact The novel coronavirus that is spreading in and around China—it just claimed a sixth life—has knocked stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong. Tourism and retail shares were particularly hard hit. The Hang Seng was down 2.8% (which was also partly down to Moody's downgrading Hong Kong's credit rating) and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.7%. Shares in Chinese drugmakers and face-mask manufacturers are up, though. Financial Times
Some clueless are buying drug makers that produce antibiotics even though coronavirus is a ummm virus
Viral infections can introduce/promote bacterial infections. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4554399/
IMO we are long over due for this. The last big one, the Spanish Flue, hit before air travel. Does anyone know the incubation period?
As PennySnatch pointed out, bacterial infections often result from virus weakened immune systems. As far as stocks go, it doesn't matter why they go up...only that they do. Rationality is often beside the point.
Was watching Bloomberg Asia last night (their open) and it was said that Chinese drug makers that make anti-viral treatments had much bigger pop for obvious reasons. Just sayin. But completely agree why they move the way they do and how much is secondary.