On March 16, the fuse mechanism was triggered at the opening of the US stock market. This is the third time this month and the fourth in history, and it is also the fastest fuse in the history of US stocks. After the resumption of trading, the intraday decline of US stocks narrowed, and the Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 2997.10 points at the close of the market, closing at 20188.52 points, down 12.93% from the closing on the 13th. At the same time, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (a panic index that measures the volatility of US stocks) surged 24.86 points to close at a record high of 82.69, surpassing the peak of 80.74 set on November 21, 2008.
U.S. stock’s laser stock market
This is already the third blowout in six trading days after the blowout was triggered for the first time on March 9. Compared with the close on March 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.95%, the Nasdaq fell 19.49%, and the S&P 500 fell 19.72%. In the context of the collapse of US stocks across the board, the laser concept stocks were not immune.
According to OFweek laser network statistics, IPG Optoelectronics, a leading global fiber laser company, quickly dropped to US$98.04 (the lowest value since February 2017) after the fuse was resumed on March 16. Compared with the closing price on March 6 before the first blowout, IPG's stock price fell by 13.26% and its market value decreased by US$855 million. The trend of Coherent on March 16 was opposite to that of IPG. After the circuit breaker resumed trading, it rose first and then fell, and finally closed at $95.29. Compared with the closing price on March 6 before the first blowout, Coherent's stock price fell by 28.84% and its market value decreased by $933 million.
After the fuse of nLIGHT on March 16, it dropped to 9.98 US dollars and finally closed at 11.62 US dollars. This is the lowest value of nLIGHT since its listing in April 2018. Compared with the closing price on March 6 before the first blowout, nLIGHT's stock price fell by 21.96% and its market value decreased by US$120 million.
Frequent circuit breakers in US stocks caused global financial markets to fall. For example, the Brazilian IBOVESPA index fell 12.5% in intraday trading, which triggered the circuit breaker again; the Canadian S&P/TSX index plunged by 12%, triggering circuit breakers; in Europe, the British FTSE 100 Index and French CAC40 The index and the German DAX index fell narrowly. As of the close, the three major stock indexes fell 4.01%, 5.75% and 5.31%, respectively.
A-share laser stock market
Compared with the plunge in other markets, A shares are relatively "independent." After the three circuit breakers on March 9, 12, and 16, the Shanghai A-share index rose 1.82%, fell 1.23%, and rose 0.03% respectively (as of the noon closing on March 17plate). On March 17, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and ChiNext Index all rebounded at 10:19 after opening and falling, and finally went out of the V-shaped trend, and closed slightly at noon.
The stock prices of several major domestic listed laser companies (Han's Laser, Huagong Technology, Raycus Laser, and JPT are selected for comparison in this article) are basically consistent with the market trend, and they rebounded out of the V shape after 10:19.
As of the noon closing on the 17th, Han's Laser closed at 30.15 yuan, a decrease of 20.87% compared with the closing on March 6, and the market value decreased by 8.483 billion yuan; Huagong Technology closed at 23.43 yuan at noon on the 17th, compared with the closing on March 6. A drop of 1.43% and a market value reduction of 342 million yuan; Raycus Laser reported at noon on the 17th to close at 88.00 yuan, a 12% drop compared to the closing on March 6, and its market value decreased by 2.304 billion yuan; JPT closed at 41.46 on the 17th noon. Yuan, compared with the closing of March 6th, a decrease of 10.93%, and the market value decreased by 470 million yuan.
From the comparison of the above data, it can be seen that the impact of the US stock circuit breaker on the A shares is limited, and the three major A-share indexes have fallen less than the US index. In the US laser stocks, IPG (13.26%) has the smallest drop since the first blowout, and Coherent (28.84%) has the largest drop. Among the A-shares, the strongest was Huagong Technology (1.43%), and the largest decline was Han's Laser (20.87%). In terms of market value, the total market value loss of the three US stock companies reached 1.908 billion U.S. dollars, and the total market value loss of the four A-share companies totaled 11.599 billion U.S. dollars, with a total loss of approximately 3.565 billion U.S. dollars.
What is the prospect of the laser industry?
In 2020, affected by the pandemic, the global economy will face varying degrees of difficulties. Published on the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics, according to the national economic situation from January to February, the value added of China's industrial enterprises above designated size dropped by 13.5% year-on-year from January to February. Among them, the value added of the mining industry fell by 6.5%, the manufacturing industry fell by 15.7%, and the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industries fell by 7.1%. The growth of high-tech products was good. The output of smart watches, smart bracelets, semiconductor discrete devices and integrated circuits increased by 119.7%, 45.1%, 31.4% and 8.5% respectively. The production of basic raw materials was stable, and the output of pig iron, crude steel, flat glass, and ten non-ferrous metals increased by 3.1%, 3.1%, 2.3% and 2.2% respectively. According to the results of the National Purchasing Manager Survey, as of February 25, the resumption rate of large and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises reached 85.6%, and production and operation activities are recovering in an orderly manner.
Previously, OFweek Laser.com had counted the impact of the pandemic on four US companies in the article "Four US Companies Expected to Lose More than US$123 Million Due to the Epidemic". For IPG and nLIGHT, which have a relatively high proportion of their business in China, the losses caused by the epidemic accounted for about 15%-18% of the revenue of the quarter, while the proportion of domestic companies will be even higher.
With the gradual control of the domestic pandemic and major companies gradually resuming production, China's laser industry is gradually getting back on track. As a global manufacturing center, China has a very mature industrial system and is the world’s largest single market for laser applications. Coupled with the continuous advancement of smart manufacturing 2025 and new infrastructure, there is reason to believe that after the epidemic is over, China's laser industry will usher in a good development situation. The pandemic will eventually pass, and the future will be bright.
