Coronavirus fear affects furniture business

Published on : Monday, March 2, 2020

Furniture business experiences worst hit in decades, due to the growing threat of Coronavirus across the globe. Furniture stocks slammed, product sell reduced drastically due to the health emergency with several hitting or falling near 52-week lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 1,000 points Monday and another 876 points Tuesday, or roughly 6.6% of its value over the two days. Some of the hardest hit furniture stocks did much worse. On Tuesday alone, Overstock.com slipped nearly 15% to $7.84 per share. Natuzzi was off more than 12% Tuesday to $1.53. And Lovesac touched a new low of $8.82 and closed down nearly 13% at $8.86.

Other industry-related stock closing near their 52-week lows Tuesday include:

• At Home, down 10.2% to $5.75
• Flexsteel, down 9.8% to $12.98
• Ethan Allen, down 6% to $13.37
• Macy’s, down 5.5% to $14.60
• Wayfair, down 5.2% to $71.65
• Conn’s, down 4.4% to $8.64
• Bassett Furniture Inds., down 3.5% to $9.95
• Havertys, down 3.6% to $15.88
• Aaron’s, down 1.3% to $42.70 (This was after losing 19% the previous Thursday following a disappointing earnings report.)

On Wednesday, stocks – including furniture industry stocks – rebounded early off the steep declines but then lost ground in early afternoon trading. The Dow was down another 143 point at 1: 40 p.m.  Flexsteel was an industry exception, holding onto gains made during the rebound, as shares rose by $1.02, or nearly 8%, to $14.

News source: furniture today

Tags: China, Coronavirus, frnitrue business, frnitrue indsutry US, stocks, trade fair