· CORONAVIRUS!
In the last three weeks, the number of lab-confirmed cases has soared from about 50 in China to 14,000 in 23 countries; there have been over 300 deaths, all but one in China.
But various epidemiological models estimate that the real number of cases is 100,000 or even more. While that expansion is not as rapid as that of flu or measles, it is an enormous leap beyond what virologists saw when SARS and MERS emerged.
When SARS was vanquished in July 2003 after spreading for nine months, only 8,098 cases had been confirmed. MERS has been circulating since 2012, but there have been only about 2,500 known cases.
The biggest uncertainty now, experts said, is how many people around the world will die. SARS killed about 10 percent of those who got it, and MERS now kills about one of three.
The Wuhan coronavirus has sickened more than 14,500 people in Asia, according to statements from health officials. Many other cases are suspected but not confirmed. As of Sunday afternoon, at least 305 people have died, all but one in China.
- China confirms 57 additional deaths and 2,829 new cases
China’s National Health Commission said there have been an additional 57 deaths and 2,829 new confirmed cases, as of the end of Sunday. That brings the country’s total to 361 deaths and 17,205 confirmed cases, the government said.
Wuhan, China is the capital city of Hubei province and the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
More Chinese provinces extend shutdown
As of Monday morning, at least 24 provinces, municipalities and other regions in have told businesses not to resume work before Feb. 10 at the earliest. That’s according to publicly available statements from the governments.
Last year, those parts of China accounted for more than 80% of national GDP, and 90% of exports, according to CNBC calculations of data accessed through Wind Information.
5 pm: California county reports ninth US case of coronavirus
The ninth U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed in Santa Clara County on Sunday. It’s the second case in the San Francisco Bay area. The case is in a woman who was recently in Wuhan, China, and visited the U.S. to see family on Jan. 23, according to the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department.
3 pm: Russian Railways halts passenger trains to China
Russian Railways said on Sunday that it would temporarily suspend passenger trains to China from midnight until further notice, including rail services along the Moscow-Beijing route.
2 pm: China finishes building new hospital in 10 days
The Chinese city of Wuhan has finished building an emergency hospital to treat patients infected with the virus. Huoshenshan Hospital will have 1,400 medical staff from the armed forces starting on Monday and a capacity of 1,000 beds, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.
· Philippines reports first death outside of China in coronavirus outbreak
· U.S. declares coronavirus health emergency, bars foreign nationals who visited China
The Trump administration, while insisting the risk to Americans from coronavirus is low, nevertheless declared a public health emergency on Friday and announced the extraordinary step of barring entry to the United States of foreign nationals who have recently visited China.
In addition, U.S. citizens who have traveled within the past two weeks to China’s Hubei Province - epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic - will be subject to a mandatory quarantine of 14 days, the incubation period of the virus, officials said.
· Trump says U.S. has 'shut down' coronavirus threat; China shuns U.S. help
The United States has taken decisive action to protect Americans from the threat of a fast-moving coronavirus while offering help to China, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, but a key adviser said Beijing had not accepted the offers of assistance.
· China to inject $174 billion of liquidity on Monday as markets reopen
China’s central bank said it will inject 1.2 trillion yuan ($174 billion) worth of liquidity into the markets via reverse repo operations on Monday as its stock markets prepare to reopen amid an outbreak of a new coronavirus.
China’s central bank said it will use various monetary policy tools to ensure liquidity remains reasonably ample, and added that the broader economic impact from a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak in the country should be temporary.
· Japan on Saturday moved to contain the economic impact of a coronavirus outbreak originating in China as strict new measures aimed at limiting the spread of the virus, including targeting foreign visitors, came into effect.
· Safe-haven yen, Swiss franc rise on fears of virus impact
The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc gained on Friday as fears escalated about the global economic impact of the latest coronavirus outbreak in China last week.
The Australian dollar fell to a four-month low against the U.S. dollar, while China’s offshore yuan struggled to find a footing in the wake of the virus outbreak.
The World Health Organization said late on Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak was a global emergency, but opposed travel restrictions and said China’s actions so far would “reverse the tide” of its spread, somewhat reassuring markets. The United States and other countries, however, tightened travel curbs on Friday and businesses said they were facing supply problems because of the coronavirus in China.
U.S. data on consumer spending and personal income did push the dollar a little higher against the yen and euro, as core consumer prices as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.2% last month after edging up 0.1% the previous four months. That lifted the annual increase in the so-called core PCE price index to 1.6% in December from 1.5% in November.
Investors, however, remained transfixed on the casualties from the virus and feared its impact on the global economy including businesses such as airlines and hotels. The death toll rose to 213 on Friday, all in China. The number of confirmed cases in China has risen beyond 9,800, Beijing’s envoy to the United Nations in Vienna said, while some 131 cases have been reported in 23 other countries and regions.
China’s offshore yuan gave up earlier gains and was last down against the dollar. The U.S. currency added 0.1% to 6.9884 , although that was some way off the 7.0038 level the yuan dropped to on Thursday.
The dollar fell 0.54% against the yen to 108.36 yen, and dropped 0.3% versus the Swiss franc to 0.9668 franc.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars, both sensitive to sentiment in China, fell to new multi-month lows. The New Zealand dollar dropped 0.5% to US$0.6464, after earlier touching a two-month low.
The Australian dollar lost 0.3% to US$0.6699, hitting a four-month low earlier in the session. Both have shed more than 1.5% this week and the Aussie has dropped more than 4% this month, leaving it poised for its worst month since May 2016.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.414 after declining from levels above 97.8 last week.
· Oil sees 4th straight week of losses, posts worst month since May as coronavirus fears weigh
Oil prices fell on Friday and were on track for a fourth consecutive weekly loss, as markets grew more concerned about the economic damage of the new coronavirus that has spread from China to around 20 countries, killing more than 200 people.
Brent crude fell 21 cents to $58.08 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 58 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $51.56. WTI posted a fourth straight week of losses, and it was the contract’s worst month since May.
Disruptions in supply chains and travel curbs are expected to weigh on China’s economy, prompting economists to temper their growth expectations for the world’s second-largest economy.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs said on Friday the coronavirus outbreak is likely to hit China’s economic growth by 0.4 percentage point in 2020 and will potentially drag the U.S. economy lower as well.
The virus outbreak could cut China’s oil demand by more than 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of this year, analysts said.
Saudi Arabia has opened a discussion about moving an upcoming policy meeting to early February from March to address the impact of coronavirus on crude demand.
· OPEC and non-OPEC’s Joint Technical Committee (JTC) has scheduled a meeting over Feb. 4-5 in Vienna to assess the impact of China’s new coronavirus on oil demand, OPEC+ sources told Reuters.
· The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell is preparing for a tough and uncertain energy market, amid heightened fears China’s fast-spreading coronavirus could suppress oil demand growth.
It comes amid speculation that OPEC and allied non-OPEC producers could soon step in to extend production cuts in order to support falling oil prices.
Financial markets have been spooked by the spread of a deadly pneumonia-like virus, with energy market participants trying to assess the potential economic fallout.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, New York Times
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