Bloomberg (March 7)
“A second hit could be coming for China’s economy after its initial shock from the coronavirus…. While China has seen new cases of the virus slow,” growing cases in “the U.S. and Europe…could knock a half percentage point off of China’s gross domestic product for the year as demand for Chinese goods slows.”
Chicago Tribune (March 6)
“We walk the Earth’s crust, we erect vast cities, we boast of our achievements. We see ourselves as the mistresses and masters of our fate.” With the coronavirus, however, “nature once again reminds us who’s boss.” The “little living form that now roils humanity is a virus” and it does not discriminate “in selecting its victims; great wealth has its privileges, but immunity from epidemics isn’t one of them.”
Tags: Achievements, Boss, Cities, Coronavirus, Earth, Fate, Humanity, Immunity, Nature, Victims, Wealth
Wall Street Journal (March 4)
“The Federal Reserve has become the default doctor for whatever ails the U.S. economy, and on Tuesday the financial physician applied what it hopes will be monetary balm for the economic damage from the coronavirus.” Alas “financial markets were underwhelmed.” This “may speak to the limited effect that lower interest rates can have on the supply shock of a pandemic.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Damage, Economy, Fed, Interest rates, Markets, Monetary balm, Supply shock, U.S., Underwhelmed
Investment Week (March 3)
“If China fails to get ‘back to work’ and is unable to cushion the impact of the coronavirus by April the ‘global ramifications will be enormous.’” At a recent Investment Week Conference, Karen Ward, chief market strategist for EMEA at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, also urged investors to “keep an eye on figures tracking Chinese coal consumption and labour migration as key indicators of the growing impact on the country’s economy.”
Tags: China, Coal, Consumption, Coronavirus, EMEA, Global ramifications, Impact, Indicators, Investors, J.P. Morgan, Labour, Migration
Financial Times (March 2)
“Europe as a whole, the UK included, should prepare for two foreseeable material economic shocks this year: a spread in the coronavirus and a WTO Brexit.” This may help create “the perfect storm for an economy dependent on exports and global supply chains.”
Tags: Brexit, Coronavirus, Economic shocks, Europe, Exports, Foreseeable, Material, Supply chains, UK, WTO
Bloomberg (March 1)
“China’s lockdown measures to minimize further coronavirus infections have created one unexpected benefit—a dramatic improvement to the nation’s air quality.” Satellite imagery is detecting “significant drops of major airborne pollutants above vast swathes of the country.”
Tags: Air quality, Airborne, China, Coronavirus, Infections, Lockdown, Satellite
New York Times (February 26)
“Japan can’t handle the coronavirus. Can it host the Olympics?” The nation’s leaders have a “sense of entitlement.” This “breeds indifference and incompetence,” which was on full display during “by the unmitigated epidemiological and public relations disaster that was the saga of the Diamond Princess cruise ship.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Diamond Princess, Disaster, Entitlement, Incompetence, Indifference, Japan, Leaders, Olympics
Wall Street Journal (February 24)
“The stock market’s steep drop on Monday reflected fears that as the coronavirus spreads to other countries, the reaction may be as draconian as it has been in China.” We are in unchartered waters as “Epidemiologists say there is no precedent for such a drastic response.” Nor can we accurately forecast their economic impact.
Tags: China, Coronavirus, Draconian, Drop, Epidemiologists, Precedent, Reaction, Stock market
South China Morning Post (February 22)
“The assured tone of top health officials has made China’s initial failure to take prompt measures to contain the coronavirus all the more telling – and not least because it is from the same family of viruses as Sars.”
Tags: Assured, China, Coronavirus, Failure, Health officials, Prompt measures, SARS, Tone
Bloomberg (February 19)
“For all the stimulus measures that officials are rolling out to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus, lower interest rates and bigger budgets are unlikely to make people feel immune. And it’s consumer behavior that will influence the magnitude of any hit.”
Tags: Budgets, Combat, Consumer behavior, Coronavirus, Economic impact, Immune, Interest rates, Officials, Stimulus