General Electric (NYSE:GE) is in the news Wednesday as its stock drops to below a price not seen since December 1991. So what exactly is hitting GE stock so hard today?
It should come as no surprise that the novel coronavirus is behind the fall of GE stock. The month-long damper it’s putting on the U.S. economy has been stacking up and General Electric has been feeling the pressure.
One of the biggest factors affecting General Electric stock is news from Boeing (NYSE:BA) CEO Dave Calhoun. He recently claimed that the company airline industry isn’t going to return to the same levels of traffic as 2019 for years. He even warns that a major airline could likely go bankrupt this year.
How does General Electric play into this? GE makes engines used in airplanes. If companies continue to limit the production of planes due to the coronavirus killing off travel, and maybe even a customer, it will feel the repercussions, reports Barron’s.
With this in mind, GE stock has seen massive amounts of trading on Wednesday. The stock is seeing trading volume surge to 173 million today, which has it as the most traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
All of that trading is a clear sign of investor worry about the future of GE stock. Those worries could be rightly warranted considering it might finish the day below $5.59 per share. GE stock hasn’t been done to that level in roughly 29 years.
GE stock was down 5.3% as of Wednesday afternoon and is down 49.7% since the start of the year.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
