No Handshakes or Hugs Requested for Futures Event in Boca Raton
No Handshakes or Hugs Requested for Futures Event in Boca Raton
(Bloomberg) -- As fears of coronavirus spread around the globe, organizers of the annual futures industry conference in Florida next month have a new policy: no handshakes or hugs, please.
The Futures Industry Association issued that guideline and recommended “alternative greetings aimed at minimizing the threat of contagion,” according to a statement Friday. The trade group represents Wall Street banks in the $30 trillion futures market.
In addition, individuals who have traveled to or from mainland China, South Korea, Japan, Iran or Italy in the past 14 days are being asked not to attend, the group said. People who have been in contact with anyone who has recently traveled to or from those countries in the last 14 days -- or with anyone who has been diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus -- are also being asked to stay away from the March 10-12 event in Boca Raton.
Other industry events have been nixed due to the coronavirus. Earlier this week, Facebook Inc. canceled its annual F8 Developer Conference over concerns about Covid-19. Mobile World Congress, a global technology conference in Spain scheduled to kick off this week, was also canceled.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Leising in Los Angeles at mleising@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Alan Mirabella
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