Holding company stocks hammered

Like many stocks on exchanges the world over, the major advertising holding companies took a beating Monday as markets reacted to rising fears of economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic plus a price war in the oil market.

After Dentsu lost 9.5% of its value during Monday trading in Tokyo, WPP ended Monday trading in London down 7.21%. Publicis Groupe had a somewhat less awful day, ending with a 6.24% loss.

US-listed companies didn't fare any better. As New York trading wrapped up early this morning (Asia time), Omnicom closed with a 7.37% loss, and Interpublic lost 9.03% of its value.

Looking over the last five days, WPP has slid the least, losing 9.35% of its value, while Publicis is down 10.31%, Omnicom is down 13.9%, Interpublic is down 15.52% and Dentsu has fallen 17.3%.

While most of these drops rougly reflect the overall market over the turbulent last several days—the Dow Jones average fell 7.79% overnight and is down about 10.5% over a five-day span—Dentsu's losses have far outpaced the market. The stock has lost 43% off a recent high in mid-December, while the Nikkei 225 index fell 5% Monday and about 16% over the same span.