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Coranavirus Outbreak

· WHO declares global emergency as China virus death toll reaches 170

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was declaring the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 170 people in China a global emergency, as cases spread to at least 18 countries.

· The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 across the world is a global health emergency — a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.

· China’s National Health Commission said there have been an additional 43 deaths and 1,982 new confirmed cases, as of the end of Thursday. That brings the country’s total to 213 deaths and 9,692 confirmed cases, the government said.

· There are now more than 8,200 confirmed coronavirus cases across the world, outpacing the total number of infections over the nine-month SARS outbreak in less than a month.

The coronavirus has spread much more quickly than SARS did in 2003. The new virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31. The deadly SARS virus, by comparison, infected a total of 8,098 people globally from Nov. 1, 2002, through July 31, 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

· The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Illinois public health officials confirmed Thursday the nation’s first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus. The new patient is the spouse of the Chicago woman who brought the infection back from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, Illinois health officials said during a CDC press briefing. The transmission makes the U.S. at least the fifth country where the infection is now spreading through human-to-human contact.

· The U.S. dollar fell Thursday on news that the American economy in 2019 posted its slowest annual growth in three years and that personal consumption weakened dramatically, ending the currency’s rally on safe-haven demand from worries about economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Investors' flight from risk lifted the Japanese yen JPY= 0.21% and the Swiss franc CHF= 0.36%, but the U.S. economic data was bleak enough to depress the dollar's safe-haven appeal. The index was last trading down 0.14% on the day at 97.858.

· The bond market sent a recession signal on Thursday as China’s fast-spreading coronavirus reignited fears of an economic downturn.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped four basis points to 1.546%, falling below the three-month Treasury rate briefly, inverting part of the yield curve that the Federal Reserve watches closely. Bond yields move inversely to prices. The three-month Treasury yield was last trading at 1.554%

· Economic growth looks even weaker this quarter, with virus now a wild card

Coming off the slowest year of growth in three, the economy in the first quarter of 2020 is expected to slow down even more due to the impact of Boeing and now the potential wild card of the coronavirus.

Fourth-quarter GDP growth was 2.1%, in line with economists’ expectations. GDP grew 2.3% for the year, the slowest pace since 2016.

The GDP report, released Thursday morning, revealed continued weakness in business spending and more sluggish consumer spending, with consumption up just 1.8%, down from 3.2% in the third quarter. Residential spending was strong, supporting GDP by 0.2%.

“The key number is really the final sales to private domestic purchasers. That number shows growth of 1.4%. That’s basically telling you domestic demand has slowed a lot since the middle of the year,” said Jonathan Millar, Barclays U.S. economist. “Consumer spending has slowed a lot in the last couple of quarters. Business spending remains weak … [business fixed investment] was negative for the third consecutive quarter. That’s a bit worrisome.”

Millar expects first-quarter growth of just 1.5%, but that includes the anticipated half a percentage point hit from Boeing’s production cuts. That should reverse by the third quarter, when he expects growth of 2.5%, following 2% in the second quarter, he added.

· Trump says coronavirus outbreak is ‘all under control’ and a ‘very small problem’ in US

President Donald Trump said the U.S. government was working closely with China to contain the coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 171 people, predicting “a very good ending” for the United States.

Trump said U.S. officials believe “we have it all under control,” adding that it’s a “very small problem in this country.”

· The fast-spreading coronavirus has infected thousands of people in China and raised fears about a global pandemic — and that could have a positive impact on the U.S. economy, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said Thursday.

That could help quicken the pace at which jobs and manufacturing are returning to the U.S. from overseas, he said.

“I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,” Ross told Fox on Thursday morning. “But the fact is, it does give businesses another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain.”

· China said on Friday its official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index came in at 50.0 for January, said the National Bureau of Statistics.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the official January manufacturing PMI to come in at 50.0.

The official manufacturing PMI — a survey of purchasing managers — was 50.2 in December.

· Oil prices fell more than 2% on Thursday on concerns over the potential economic impact of the coronavirus that continues to spread worldwide, while the market also considered the possibility of an early OPEC meeting.

Brent fell $1.52, or 2.5%, to settle at $58.29 per barrel, having risen 0.5% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.19, or 2.2%, to settle at $52.14 per barrel.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC