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Death toll from coronavirus rises to 1,486 globally

The Hubei health authority has reported that 116 more people died of the coronavirus in Hubei province on Thursday, raising the death toll in the epicenter since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak to 1,426.

This brings the total number of deaths in mainland China to at least 1,483. The global death toll is at least 1,486, with one death in Hong Kong, one death in the Philippines and one death in Japan.

Hubei authorities confirmed an additional 4,823 cases of the virus in Hubei, which brings the total number of cases in the epicenter of the outbreak to 51,986.

There are 36,719 patients who have been hospitalized in Hubei, including 1,685 who are in critical condition, according to the health authority. There are 4,131 patients who have recovered and been discharged.

Around the world: The global number of confirmed coronavirus cases has now exceeded 65,191 with the vast majority of cases in mainland China.

- Japan will spend 10.3 billion yen ($93.9 million) to fight the coronavirus, Abe says

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that the cabinet will decide on Friday to spend 10.3 billion yen from the country’s budget to respond to the coronavirus, Reuters reported. Steps to tackle the outbreak will total 15.3 billion yen, he added after a meeting of a task force.

- Travel slump spreads from China to Asia-Pacific region, data shows

The coronavirus is causing travel demand to slump across the whole Asia-Pacific region, according to data released by travel analytics firm ForwardKeys on Thursday, with the region seeing a 10.5% slowdown in outbound travel bookings for March and April (excluding trips to and from China and Hong Kong).

As of February 9, the setback looks likely to be most marked in northeast Asia, where outbound bookings for March and April, are 17.1% behind where they were at the equivalent moment last year.

- Chinese autos sales plunge in January, industry association says

Reuters reported that preliminary data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers suggests that China’s January auto sales dropped 18%. The news agency noted that local governments began imposing travel restrictions in the last two weeks of the month.

- Global oil demand set to see first quarterly decline in over 10 years, IEA says

Global oil demand is now expected to see its first quarterly contraction in over a decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as the new coronavirus and widespread shutdown of China’s economy hits demand for crude.

Demand is now expected to fall by 435,000 barrels a day in the first quarter of 2020, down from the same period a year ago, and marking the first quarterly contraction in more than 10 years, the IEA said in its monthly oil market report Thursday.

- Emerging market debt shrugging off fears that the outbreak could hurt economies

Emerging market debt, as an asset class, has been spared a big impact from the coronavirus so far. Fear the virus will hurt the global economy has driven Treasury yields lower, and the easy money policies of the world’s central banks have pushed yields lower around the globe, so the hunt for yield has become ever more challenging. Emerging market debt is a “least bad” choice, in the view of Brian Funk head of credit research at MetLife Investment Management. “It’s offering value on a risk-adjusted basis at this stage in the cycle.” According to Bank of America, flows into emerging market debt funds as of last week were running at a record clip, aside from a small outflow the week earlier

- Top White House advisor says US disappointed with coronavirus response

The U.S. is “quite disappointed” with China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, a top White House adviser said, criticizing Beijing for a lack of transparency. Speaking to reporters at the White House, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said the Trump administration had thought there was better transparency than there has turned out to be. He also said the administration was very disappointed that Beijing had not accepted a U.S. invitation to send a team of experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help China in its efforts to contain the outbreak. In an interview last week with CNBC, Vice President Mike Pence had praised China’s transparency.

- Jeremy Siegel says coronavirus uncertainty is holding back the Dow from hitting 30,000

Longtime stock bull Jeremy Siegel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” the Dow Jones Industrial Average would easily crack 30,000 if it weren’t for the market uncertainty around the coronavirus outbreak. “If there is good news on this virus front, we would pop above 30,000 I think without question,” said the Wharton Finance professor, as stocks were falling. The Dow was still less than 2% away from 30,000. The Dow closed at a record of 29,551 on Wednesday.

- U.S. business group sees China keeping purchase commitments despite coronavirus

The head of an American business lobbying group said on Thursday he was confident that China will still meet its “Phase 1” trade deal commitments to massively increase purchases of U.S. goods and services despite the coronavirus crisis.

Under the trade deal, which officially takes effect on Saturday, China has pledged to increase U.S. goods purchases by $77 billion in 2020 and by $123 billion by 2021, compared to a baseline of U.S. imports from 2017, the year before the U.S.-China tariff war began.

A Chinese government researcher on Tuesday forecast that the coronavirus outbreak could cut China’s 2020 economic growth by a full percentage point, pressuring the cash flow of companies that would be buying U.S. goods.

The USCBC announced on Thursday that around 60 of its member companies were donating medical supplies, including 2 million face masks, and other goods to hospitals in Wuhan. The effort, included companies such as insurer Chubb, retailer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and FedEx Corp (FDX.N), which donated delivery services.



· Euro sinks against dollar as US assets look more attractive

The euro dropped to more than two-year lows against the dollar on Thursday as concerns about a sharp rise in the number of new cases in the coronavirus outbreak in China led investors to seek out U.S. assets.

The euro dropped as low as $1.0835, the lowest since May 2017. It breached technical support at the October low of $1.0877 on Wednesday. That leaves the currency vulnerable to further losses, analysts said. The single currency also fell against the safe haven Swiss franc to 1.0610 francs, its lowest level since August 2015. The Japanese yen gained against the dollar to 109.78 yen.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.067 after seeing an earlier low below 98.9.

The greenback has benefited against the euro from a popular carry trade, where investors borrow in low-yielding currencies such as the euro and invest in dollars or other higher-yielding currencies.

Expectations that central banks will hold rates low, and may provide more accommodation if the coronavirus harms the global economy, is supporting risk appetite and may reduce the likelihood of a sharp selloff in stocks. “The perspective is that rates will remain low, and that is cushioning some of the downside on the equity side,” Issa said. Stocks overcame earlier weakness to hit record highs on Thursday.

They have set a record closing high every day this week. U.S. data on Thursday showed that U.S. underlying consumer prices picked up in January as households paid more for rents and clothing, supporting the Federal Reserve’s contention that inflation would gradually rise toward its 2% target.



· U.S. underlying consumer prices rise in January



U.S. underlying consumer prices picked up in January as households paid more for rents and clothing, supporting the Federal Reserve’s contention that inflation would gradually rise toward its 2% target.

The Labor Department said on Thursday its consumer price index excluding the volatile food and energy components rose 0.2% last month after edging up 0.1% in December. The so-called core CPI was up by an unrounded 0.2423% last month.

Underlying inflation in January was also lifted by increases in the prices of airline tickets, healthcare, recreation and education. In the 12 months through January, the core CPI increased 2.3%, rising by the same margin for four straight months.

The Fed tracks the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for its 2% inflation target. The core PCE price index rose 1.6% on a year-on-year basis in December. It undershot its target in 2019. January PCE price data will be published later this month.

· Flagging weaker growth, Mexico central bank cuts interest rate again

Mexico’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate on Thursday for a fifth straight meeting, lowering it 25 basis points to 7.0% as expected, amid a backdrop of a stagnating economy and slightly above-target headline inflation.

“Based on the most recent data, gross domestic product in 2020 is forecast to grow less than estimated in the bank’s July-September 2019 quarterly report, with the balance of risks biased to the downside,” the bank said in a statement.

· Oil prices climb on prospects for deeper OPEC+ output cuts

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as investors hoped the world’s biggest producers would cut output more while they largely shrugged off forecasts of slumping demand due to the coronavirus outbreak in top oil importer China.

Brent crude LCOc1 ended the session up 55 cents, or 1%, at $56.34 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 settled up 25 cents, or 0.5%, at $51.42 a barrel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lowered its 2020 demand forecast for its crude by 200,000 bpd, prompting expectations the producer group and its allies, known as OPEC+, could cut output further.



Reference: Reuters, CNBC, CNN