| Abstract [eng] |
The COVID-19 pandemic affected more than 46 million people around the world and death numbers are rising every day, because of lockdowns and quarantine establishments business, corporations and other profit seeking institutions are losing money. The spread of coronavirus has a severe impact all over the world and created an unpredictable level of uncertainty. The fast spread of coronavirus had negative impacts on financial markets all over the world, thus the stock market indexes was no exception either. This research aims to analyze and investigate the affect and relationship between COVID-19 confirmed cases and stock market indexes of Italy (FTSE MIB 40) and Spain (IBEX 35) during the period of 1st of March to 30th of November, 2020. In order to achieve more detailed results, the selected time frame is divided into three separate periods accordingly with pandemic spread. For conducting such research, it is necessary to validate if: the increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases have any connection with the stock exchange indexes mentioned above. The section on theoretical analysis supports information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic globally and on European level. Based on the previous research methods, the Simple Regression was chosen for the empirical research. This model was the most popular among others in research. The results of the study reveal that comparing the impact of COVID-19 on the FTSE MIB 40 and IBEX 35 indexes over the three selected periods, First Wave Period, Recovery Period, and Second Wave Period, suggests that Italy and Spain implemented appropriate instruments to manage the pandemic during the recovery period and properly prepare for the second wave of the pandemic in the fall, as stock index performance was significantly less affected by the newly confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in comparison with the Spring period. |
