[We should take the numbers coming from China with a grain of salt...]
Update(1000ET): US stocks are deep in the red Monday morning, on track for their worst day in four months, thanks to the fact that the market and the world realized over the weekend that the extremely infectious novel coronavirus has overwhelmed China's capacity to contain it.
And right on time, here comes President Trump, with a weak attempt to pump the market.
Minutes ago, the president tweeted that the US had offered China "any help that is necessary", while advising that the US is "strongly on watch" for signs that the virus is spreading.
Update (0700ET): Chinese health officials have confirmed an additional fatality tied to the virus.
Here's the latest roundup from Chinese state media:
#LATEST on #WuhanPneumonia:— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) January 27, 2020
- 2,835 cases confirmed in China, including 81 deaths, while 55 people recovered
Overseas cases:
- Thailand: 8
- Japan: 4
- South Korea: 4
- US: 5
- Vietnam: 2
- Singapore: 4
- Malaysia: 4
- Nepal: 1
- France: 3
- Australia: 5
- Canada: 1 pic.twitter.com/yOg9cktB0j
Meanwhile, the FT reports that OPEC and its allies are weighing deeper production cuts in response to the fallout from the virus, which has hammered oil prices. The Brent international benchmark tumbled below $60 a barrel on Monday. The cartel's next meeting is set for early March in Vienna.
As the world enters panic mode, a team of analysts at JP Morgan assured their clients that the epidemic - which will likely soon qualify as a pandemic assuming the WHO changes course - is merely an "interruption to the narrative" and that the fallout would be confined to China and the broader region - not the entire planet.
Meanwhile, Australia has confirmed its fifth case of the virus: a 21-year-old woman who arrived in Australia on the last flight out of Wuhan to Sydney. In the UK, 52 people have been tested for the virus, but no cases have been confirmed, per ITV.
Earlier, we mentioned that Chinese scientists had reversed their earlier findings and determined that the Hunan Fish Market in Wuhan was, in fact, the epicenter of the outbreak (it's believed that the market's trade in wild animals, like bats and snakes, is to blame). Bloomberg has offered a clarification, reporting that the market is one of several sources being investigated.
With US stocks still on track for a brutal open, investors around the world are turning to Jay Powell and the FOMC, which will meet later this week.
With so much going on - the Bolton revelations, the deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, the busiest week of earnings season, and the upcoming Fed meeting - the virus remains the most dominant theme - and with good reason.
As we reported late last night, the number of confirmed cases in China has tripled over the weekend. Health officials have confirmed 2,804 cases in China, where the deal toll has climbed to 80 - giving the virus a roughly 5% mortality rate. Over the weekend, we joked that the scapegoating was already beginning, citing a rash of public outrage directed at health officials and Wuhan, as well as the city's mayor, Zhou Xianwang.
Even though researchers reportedly cast doubt on the virus's connection to the Wuhan food market illegally trading in wild animals, scientists on Monday said they had, in fact, found evidence of the virus at the market. A strain of the virus was isolated from samples taken at the market. The strain was isolated from environmental samples taken from the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. A phot of the virus, known as 2019-nCoV, can be found below.
Per the SCMP, the virus was detected in 35 of the 585 environmental samples collected on Jan. 1 and Jan. 12, with 33 of the positive samples taken from the market’s western zone, where the wildlife trading business was concentrated.
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