Chattanooga-area companies shed $7.5 billion of market value as COVID-19 hits stock market

Chattanooga's publicly traded companies collectively lost more than $7.5 billion of market value in the first three months of 2020 as share prices of all eight of the local stock-traded companies suffered double-digit losses in the first quarter ended Tuesday.

In the first three months of 2020, seven of the eight stock-traded companies that are headquartered in the Chattanooga region suffered bigger declines than the 20% drop in the market as a whole.

Half of the local stocks shed more than 40% of their value in the first quarter.

The biggest market loser among the local stocks was CBL Properties, the shopping center development firm that owns Hamilton Place and Northgate malls which have both been ordered to close. Shares of CBL have dropped by more than 80% so far this year and are down nearly 87% from 12 months ago as investors worry that retail store closings and bankruptcies will reduce rent payments and raise vacancy rates at CBL centers.

The world's biggest disability insurer, Unum Group, suffered a 48% drop in its stock price in the first three months of 2020 and Unum shares have dropped by 55.2% in the past year. With an investment portfolio of more than $50 billion to help cover the future liability of disability claims, Unum has been hard hit by the drop in interest rates and return on those holdings.

The past three months marked the worst quarter for the overall stock market since the financial crisis in 2008. The market drop came despite the initial increase in stock prices to record highs last month before fears about the growing coronavirus pandemic sickened the market . The S&P 500 was down by nearly 31% for the quarter at one point before climbing 15.5% from the depths reached last Monday.

"People are trying to digest the length and magnitude of what the coronavirus impact is going to be," George Rusnak, managing director of investment strategy at Wells Fargo Private Bank, told the Associated Press.

The first quarter declines in local stock prices included:

-- CBL Properties fell 80.5% to 20 cents per share

-- Unum fell by 48% to $15.01 per share

-- Mohawk Industries fell by 44.1% to $76.24 per share

-- Dixie Group fell by 42.9% to 65 cents per share

-- U.S. Xpress Enterprises fell 38.8% to $3.34 per share

-- Covenant Transport fell 32.5% to $8.67 per share

-- Miller Industries fell by 24.6% to $28.28 per share

-- Astec Industries fell by 16.5% to $34.97 per share

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