These Pricey Shares Just Got $46 Billion Cheaper 

European equities suffered their sharpest sell-off in nearly four months yesterday, sending the Stoxx 600 index to test its 50-day moving average. Looking at the damage, one European sector has been particularly hammered since the coronavirus outbreak started to hit markets last week: luxury goods.

About $46 billion: That’s the cumulative market cap wipe-out from the top nine European luxury-goods stocks since a peak earlier this month, half of which is from France’s LVMH, which reports earnings after the market close today. The sector was already under pressure because of the protests in Hong Kong this year, so no wonder fears are mounting about the 2020 prospects for stocks highly exposed to Chinese customers, as the virus puts many cities in lock-down during the of Lunar New Year holiday, a crucial period for shopping and travel.