East Asia outlook is better than other regions slammed by coronavirus - JPMorgan

CNBC reports that according to David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Mangement, East Asia could do better than other parts of the world as the coronavirus pandemic leaves many major economies virtually frozen.

"I think the overall outlook for East Asia is quite good relative to to other regions of the world … in economic terms and probably in market terms in the second half of 2020," Kelly told CNBC.

Global economic activity has plummeted as authorities implement extensive social distancing measures and lockdowns to stem the spread of the disease. But Kelly said places such as South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong have a better chance of "escaping from Covid-19 than Europe and the U.S. does."

The strategist also said China, where the virus was first reported late last year, is likely to keep reopening its economy as it takes a different approach from the West.

"It may be that while the U.S. and Western countries will shy away from achieving some sort of herd immunity and wait for a vaccine, it could be that China may soldier on with reopening the economy even if there's some rise in the case load and they will sort of struggle to try and dampen down that growth but not abandon this reopening of the economy," Kelly said.

Kelly also said he expects a "big drop" in second-quarter GDP for the United States, which saw a spike in coronavirus cases and shutdowns beginning in March. "I think first quarter GDP will now be negative in the U.S., but second quarter GDP could be down 20 to 25% in annualized rate," Kelly said. "A huge decline."