# Professor Richard Sylla analyzes the market sell-off surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, noting a complacency about the growth in stocks prior to the outbreak

1 Faculty News February 28, 2020 ![The New York Times Logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_027320.jpg?itok=W8xBr66g)>

Excerpt from [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/business/economy/coronavirus-economy.html) -- "But in the last week, the rosy outlook that corporate profits would keep growing has been replaced by panic, said [Richard Sylla](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/richard-sylla), professor emeritus at New York University’s Stern School of Business, who has studied stock market shocks through history. 'There was complacency about the growth in stocks, and the virus was the trigger for a sell-off,' he said."

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