PPE Demand Explodes Amid Pandemic Control Efforts

Below, our analysts share their findings on which markets caught a break in 2020 and what their prospects are post pandemic. Our research this year uncovered a number of areas helping businesses stay afloat amid the pandemic, some expected - like the continued shift from brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce - and others less obvious, like the boom in home renovations. Through it all, the analysts at continue to closely track the pandemic’s economic impact, helping businesses in a broad range of market sectors sift through the noise to identify and prepare for near-term challenges and opportunities arising from the pandemic, as well as long-term trends that the pandemic is accelerating. While a vaccine may be on the horizon, however, once again, Covid-19 cases are surging, retail sales growth is stagnating, and the likelihood of more lockdowns grows. Things returned to some semblance of normal in the months since May as economies gradually reopened.

Though construction activity was able to continue uninterrupted for the most part, investment dried up, causing many commercial building projects to stall even as residential building construction spending spiked.

Unemployment soared and consumer spending sank, roiling markets and causing major global economies to slide into recession.

Essential businesses like mass retailers and manufacturing facilities had new safety and sanitation guidelines to consider, while non-essential businesses, including bars and sit-down restaurants, were forced to either adapt or shut down, many for good.

As Covid-19 swept the globe in March, many businesses entered fight or flight mode as the pandemic wrought sudden, sweeping change on the market environment:

What was zoom stock in march 2020