By: Scott Davis
With coronavirus a new global challenge, we can look back to SARS in mid-2003 for some context, though it’s an imperfect comparison. We were then just coming out of a broad recession post 9/11 and the collapse of the Tech bubble. And the start of the Iraq War created even more noise. Some markets were clearly affected directly by SARS, notably healthcare (e.g. 3M respirators sales way up) and aero (global air traffic way down). But otherwise, it’s difficult to discern any meaningful trend in our numbers (e.g, Emerson orders and U.S. Industrial Production).
3M was big beneficiary during SARS outbreak; while Aero was one of the most at risk markets.