Investors are looking at the conflict in the Middle East and its “broad implications on cost of living, economic growth and markets", said Jelena Sokolova, an analyst at Morningstar. “The latter one is an important leading indicator, especially for American consumption of luxury.”
(March 31): Shares in LVMH have had their worst start to a year on record, as the impact of war in the Middle East clouds the global economic outlook and intensifies demand headwinds for luxury goods.
The stock fell 28% in the first quarter, the most of any major European luxury firm. The performance was worse than during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the dot-com bubble of 2001, a Bloomberg analysis going back to 1989 showed. It also reflects the disruption to travel and tourism on which sales of the priciest items are so dependent.
