The volatility of the Dow Jones Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Index in the context of the Coronavirus crisis

2020

This paper’s analysis was triggered by the outbreak of the new virus COVID-19. In December 2019, the Chinese officials alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) of the existence of an unknown deadly virus. Coronavirus has rapidly spread across the world - to Europe, Middle East and the USA, forcing the World Health Organization to declare COVID-19 a global pandemic. Its spread has generated major concerns for the health and economic sectors. Meanwhile, all countries hope for the development of a vaccine. Using as a research method the EGARCH model, this paper investigates if it can be applied to model the trend of volatility of the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology markets, especially dur…