Global recession likely if COVID-19 becomes pandemic: Moody's Analytics

COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan in China in December and has since affected thousands of people across the globe.

A global recession is likely if coronavirus becomes a pandemic, and the odds of that are uncomfortably high and rising with infections surging in Italy and Korea, Moody's Analytics said on Wednesday.

"The coronavirus has been a body blow to the Chinese economy, which now threatens to take out the entire global economy," Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi said.

The outbreak of the virus, officially called COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan in China in December and has since affected thousands of people across the globe.

"COVID-19 is battering the global economy in numerous ways. Chinese business travel and tourism has all but stopped; global airlines are not going to China and cruise lines are cancelling most Asia-Pacific itineraries. This is a huge problem for major travel destinations, including in the US, where some 3 million Chinese tourists visit each year," Moody's Analytics said.

Chinese tourists to the US are among the biggest spenders of any foreign tourists. Travel in Europe is also sure to be severely impacted as Milan, Italy, the centre of the new infections in that country, is a major travel hub for the Continent.

Shuttered Chinese factories are also a problem for countries and companies fastened into China's manufacturing supply chain. Apple, Nike and General Motors are some prominent American examples.

Shortages of some goods will likely result this spring, meaning higher prices for things we buy at Walmart and on Amazon, it said.

Nike running shoes sell for $437,500, smash auction record for sneakers

The highest previous price fetched at auction for sneakers is thought to be $190,373 for a pair of signed Converse shoes said to have been worn by Michael Jordan in the 1984 Olympic basketball final.

A pair of 1972 running shoes, one of the first pairs made by Nike, sold for $437,500 on Tuesday, shattering the record for a pair of sneakers at public auction.

The so-called Nike "Moon Shoe," designed by Nike co-founder and track coach Bill Bowerman for runners at the 1972 Olympics trials, was the top lot in the first-ever auction dedicated to sneakers at Sotheby's auction house in New York.

Sotheby's said the price was a world auction record for a pair of sneakers. The buyer in the online auction was not immediately known.

The highest previous price fetched at public auction for sneakers is thought to be $190,373 in California in 2017 for a pair of signed Converse shoes said to have been worn by Michael Jordan in the 1984 Olympic basketball final.

Sotheby's, better known for selling art works fetching tens of millions of dollars, teamed up with streetwear marketplace Stadium Goods to auction 100 pairs of the rarest sneakers ever produced in a venture that reflects their fast-growing status as collectibles.

The other 99 pairs of sneakers originally up for auction were bought privately as a single lot last week for $850,000, Sotheby's said.

They were acquired by Canadian car collector and investor Miles Nadal who plans to display them at his private automobile museum in Toronto, Sotheby's said.

Nadal's haul included 2011 and 2016 versions of the "Back to the Future Part II" limited-edition shoes by Nike that were inspired by the 1989 film starring Michael J Fox, and limited-edition sneakers produced by Adidas, Air Jordan and rapper Kanye West's Yeezy collection.

Business Standard