Your Evening Briefing
Your Evening Briefing
(Bloomberg) --
A study of the first coronavirus cases in America found the illness was passed most easily between family members of patients, with less risk of infection among other people they came in contact with. The analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which has come under scathing criticism for its slow response to the crisis and botched tests, suggests effective infection control and prevention may cut the risk of the virus spreading. There are 93,000 cases worldwide, including more than 100 in the U.S. Some 3,158 have died—nine in the U.S.
Here are today’s top stories
On paper, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders should have the upper hand on Super Tuesday. But former Vice President Joe Biden appears to have some momentum coming out of South Carolina. Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, said his path to the nomination runs through a contested convention. Here’s what each candidate needs to win tonight.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus outbreak has increased risks to the U.S. economic outlook, prompting the central bank to deliver an emergency half-percentage point interest rate cut. But it wasn’t enough for Wall Street: U.S. stocks dropped like it was last week. Treasuries surged, entering uncharted territory as 10-year-yields fell below 1% for the first time ever.
All the cancelled events, travel disruptions and potential medical claims from the virus likely won’t hurt the insurance industry. Over the years, insurers have inserted communicable-disease exclusions in their policies. Who’s going to pay? You, of course.
Wells Fargo announced new bank accounts that limit fees for consumers a week before its executives are to appear before Congress. They will be questioned about a series of scandals that include branch employees opening millions of potentially fake accounts to hit sales goals.
China is getting back to work. Satellite pollution data shows nitrogen dioxide concentrations are rising again.
Americans, however, are not. JPMorgan asked thousands of its employees to work from home and Ford banned business trips after two of its employees contracted the virus. Even visits to stores are down.
What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director says it’s beginning to feel like the global financial crisis, as government ministers hold emergency meetings and stocks rebound on talks of coordinated central bank action. But back then, bailouts, massive liquidity and eventually quantitative easing did the job of unsticking the gears of global finance. This time around, Joe says, with many central banks already having very accommodative stances and no real signs of bank balance-sheet pressure, there can be a strong argument made that the response should be mostly fiscal.
What you’ll need to know tomorrow
- Tornadoes killed at least 22 people in Tennessee on Tuesday.
- Online brokerage Robinhood is back up (sort of) after an outage.
- The Pentagon is having trouble getting F-35 engines on time.
- Who gets to look at your email inbox after you’re gone?
- The IMF and World Bank plan for “virtual” spring meetings.
- Wall Street is falling out of love with natural gas.
- One of China’s most ambitious projects is a corridor to nowhere.
What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Pursuits
Once the go-to brand for upwardly mobile sedan buyers with a need for speed, BMW is facing pressure from Tesla's Model 3, which arrived in Europe just over a year ago and became the fifth-best selling sedan overall in 2019. The German brand’s answer to the electric threat is a sleek battery-powered car called the i4, which looks a whole lot like the company’s bread-and-butter 3 Series.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net
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