Charlotte companies lost $267 billion of market value in coronavirus selloff

Large public companies in the Charlotte area lost $267 billion of market value in the stock market selloff spurred by the new coronavirus.

The total market capitalization of Charlotte’s 19 big public companies, including Bank of America, Nucor and Honeywell, has fallen 28% from the close on Feb. 19, just before equity markets began to deteriorate, according to an analysis by The Charlotte Observer.

That figure includes public firms with headquarters in the Charlotte area on the Fortune 1000, or with over 10,000 employees in the region. The current market capitalization of the 19 firms stands at about $690 billion.

The selloff — motivated by fear over the impact that the virus would have on the world economy — has hit Charlotte’s banks particularly hard.

As rates fall, the margin that banks make on loans crumbles as well. Bank of America, Truist and Wells Fargo have all seen their share price slide by more than a third in the selloff.

The sharpest drop was seen in Brighthouse Financial, the annuities and life insurance firm. Its shares have fallen 50% since the selloff began, hurt by falling interest rates.

Duke Energy stock fell the least, 15%, in that time. Prices are as of Friday close.

Noticeable impact

The full impact of the economic slowdown is yet to be felt, and depends greatly on how long and how deep the pandemic persists.

If other countries’ timelines for handling the virus are a baseline, a three-to-six-week slowdown like those in China and South Korea could be managed, Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo, said Friday.

Still, there will be an noticeable impact on the region’s economy, he said.

“The manufacturing sector is vulnerable to some cut backs,” Vitner said. “Transportation and distribution are all likely to see activity slow. And of course the airlines are cutting back the number of flights and that’s likely to persist for some time.”

Industries across the Charlotte region are testing their resilience and flexibility as the number of cases rises.

The asset manager Barings made its entire global workforce work from home. Truist upped the cleaning of its branches and offices. And two of seven conventions scheduled for March and April at the Charlotte Convention Center were canceled or postponed.

Charlotte saw its first confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, later than most major metro areas and has been less affected so far than other cities.

Seattle, home to one of the biggest outbreaks in the U.S., has seen its streets thin out and restaurants temporarily close.

Houston, with its large number of oil and gas companies, will likely be one of the hardest hit towns from the current economic distress, as that city’s economy is tightly linked with the price of crude, which has collapsed to just above $30 a barrel.

“Fundamentally the economy in Charlotte still looks incredibly good,” Vitner said. “When this does pass, our competitive advantage relative to other cities will still remain.”

The companies in the Observer’s analysis were: Albemarle Corp., Bank of America, Brighthouse Financial, Coca-Cola Consolidated, CommScope, Curtiss-Wright, Domtar, Duke Energy, EnPro Industries, Honeywell, JELD-WEN, Lowe’s, Nucor, Sonic Automotive, Sealed Air, SPX, Trane Technologies, Truist and Wells Fargo.

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 2:11 PM.