LONDON — Uncertainty over the swine flu outbreak cast a shadow over the struggling global economy Monday, raising fears that that the spread of the virus could harm trade and tourism and undermine businesses just as they’re beginning to rally.
Airline stocks plummeted as major travel companies in Europe and Asia canceled tours to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Pharmaceutical companies rallied on expectations that demand for anti-viral drugs may surge to deal with any pandemic.
It’s unclear how bad the outbreak will be, but any blow to travel and trade could eat away further at world gross domestic product, already forecast by the International Monetary Fund to shrink 1.3 percent this year in the first decline since World War II.
Both Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG — the maker of Tamiflu — and Glaxo Smithkline PLC, which manufactures the drug Relenza, rose 4 percent in European trading. Gilead Sciences Inc., which developed Tamiflu, rose 4 percent.
