Coronavirus Leads to Huge Losses for Tech Companies and Crypto

Today we're looking at how tech companies and digital assets fared this week. You probably already know the punchline: In this economy, nothing is spared.

Public markets

Yesterday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed down 9.4%. Name a publicly traded technology company, its share price was probably down. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon shed over $400 billion in market cap yesterday.

Travel and transportation: Coronavirus has hamstrung the online-offline darlings of the smartphone era. Uber's share price fell 13.8% to an all-time low; Lyft also hit a low.

The situation is just as bad in the private markets.

• Airbnb bookings in Beijing fell 96% the first week of March compared to Jan. 5–11, the WSJ reports. The dramatic drop in global travel over the next few months could delay a 2020 IPO.

Among the wreckage, there was a bright spot for Tesla: The carmaker is now the U.S.' top industrial company by market value after passing Boeing Wednesday.

As for digital gold

Turns out bears eat crypto, too. Some bitcoin proponents say it's a "safe haven" asset, like gold or government bonds, where investors park money during times of geopolitical turbulence, or uh, pandemics. At times, bitcoin's price has gone up during market volatility.

Narrator: This time, it was not so. Bitcoin briefly fell this morning to $3,858, a one-year low. It's since bounced back a bit, and at time of publication is back over $5,000.

• Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal speculated this week that bitcoin owners are selling off holdings like any other asset because they need liquidity. It still has safe haven properties, he said.

Other top cryptocurrencies are getting clobbered too.

Big picture: Things were looking brighter this morning. But with coronavirus permeating daily aspects of U.S. life, companies with operations tied to out-of-home activity are most exposed. And if investors run for the hills, young startups could also be in trouble. As for bitcoin, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.