(Bloomberg) — The number of coronavirus cases globally approached 100,000 as more infections were reported in the U.S., Germany, France and South Korea. A meeting of senior European Union diplomats was canceled.
The rally in bonds gathered steam. Thirty-year Treasury yields plunged below 1.5% for the first time and yields on the 10-year fell to a record. European stocks hit a fresh low for the year and U.S. futures pointed to another day of losses.
Key Developments:
Global cases top 99,000; death toll 3,386Globalization faces a bend-but-won’t-break crisisCentral banks just starting virus fight with record low ratesSovereign bond yield collapse shows the world is in crisis modeGoogle, Microsoft, Facebook urge work from home; banks split teams
Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here.
Top EU Diplomats’ Meeting Called Off (6:54 a.m. NY)
A meeting of COREPER — the powerful body of EU government envoys in Brussels who run the bloc’s legislative process — was called off. The Croatian envoy, who holds the rotating presidency of the group, put herself in isolation after coming to contact with a European Council staff member who was confirmed to be infected. The group convened last night and it’s unclear whether all envoys have been exposed and to what extent.
Vatican Closes Clinic After Patient Tests Positive (6:40 a.m. NY)
The Vatican temporarily closed its clinic after one patient tested positive for coronavirus. Vatican City is home to about 600 people, including Pope Francis.
The Vatican is studying further measures to prevent contagion, including closing to the public events in St. Peter’s Square that draw large crowds, such as the pope’s Sunday address. Francis himself tested negative for the virus earlier this week.
Cameroon, Serbia, Slovakia Report First Cases (6:24 a.m. NY)
Cameroon’s government confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case after a 58-year-old French citizen tested positive. Slovakia and Serbia also reported their first infections.
Deutsche Bank Says ‘Policy Failure Is Here’ (6:12 a.m. NY)
Global central banks have no room to fight the crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to Deutsche Bank. “Policy failure is here,” George Saravelos, the bank’s global head of currency research, wrote in a note. “We disagree with central bank pronouncements that there is room to fight the crisis.”
Japan Says Abe’s Cough Stems From Hay Fever (6:23 p.m. HK)
Japan blamed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coughing in parliament this week on hay fever. Earlier, Finance Minister Taro Aso said the government has asked private and public financial organizations to cut loan rates and lengthen lending periods.
Iran Cases Surge Again (6:41 p.m. HK)
Iran, the worst affected country in the Middle East, reported 1,234 new cases, taking the total to 4,747. The country reported 17 more deaths, taking total fatalities to 124.
European Cases Spike (6:40 p.m. HK)
France’s Haut-Rhin department has 81 confirmed cases of coronavirus from 10 two days ago, and the number is expected to increase. Earlier Politico reported that French lawmaker Jean-Luc Reitzer is being treated in Mulhouse after contracting the virus.
The number of confirmed cases in Germany rose to 534 from 400, while those in Spain jumped to 345 from 261. Belgium reported 59 new cases.
Coronavirus Isolates 1,300 Soldiers in Norway (6:40 p.m. HK)
The Norwegian military quarantined 1,300 personnel in a base in the northern part of the country after a case of coronavirus was confirmed among them.
No one will be allowed in or out of the Skjold base in the Troms region after one person tested positive Thursday, the Norwegian Armed Forces said. The infected person doesn’t have serious symptoms.
Coronavirus Danger Now Includes Fraud Scams (6:38 p.m. HK)
As the threat of a coronavirus increases in the U.K., scammers are introducing it as a ploy to defraud unsuspecting people, the police said. The frauds range from fake sellers of protective face masks that are never delivered to coronavirus-themed phishing attacks. Victims have so far reported a total of $1 million in losses, the police said.
Netherlands Reports First Coronavirus Death (6:08 p.m. HK)
An 86-year-old man in the Netherlands has died, the RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said. The source of the infection of is so far unknown. The man had been hospitalized in Rotterdam. The country has 82 cases as of March 5.
Samsung Shuts Phone Plant for a Third Time (6:07 p.m. HK)
Samsung Electronics Co. is suspending production at its key Gumi smartphone factory for the third time after discovering another coronavirus infection among its employees, prompting the shift of some of that plant’s output to Vietnam.
Treasury Yields Plunge to Record Lows, Stocks Slump (6 p.m. HK)
The yield on 10-year Treasury debt dropped as much as 22 basis points to an unprecedented 0.6932%, while the 30-year rate plunged as much as 27 basis points to 1.2742%, also a record low. U.S. stock futures extended declines.
European stocks tumbled again, reversing what was left of this week’s rebound and hitting a new 2020 low. The continent’s credit risk hits the highest level since June 2016.
Ship From Genoa Blocked in Naples Port, Ansa Says (5:57 p.m. HK)
A ship with 125 people on board was blocked in the port of Naples after nine staff members showed symptoms that could be potentially linked to coronavirus, Ansa reported, citing unidentified officials from the port authority.
Italy is the worst hit country in Europe from the outbreak. The government said on Thursday it will double the amount planned to help contain the impact to $8.4 billion.
Macau Says All Patients Discharged (5:49 p.m. HK)
The 10th coronavirus patient has recovered and has been released from hospital this afternoon, Macau government said. The last case was reported on Feb. 4.
UBS Employees Test Positive (5:48 p.m. HK)
Three UBS employees in Switzerland have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the bank. An employee at a UBS Geneva office tested positive for the coronavirus, following which the bank sent home the employee’s team members and employees working in the surroundings. Two employees in Ticino in southern Switzerland also tested positive.
Separately, S&P Global, which told its 1,200-strong staff in London to work from home, did so after being visited by a worker from HSBC who had the virus, according to a company official
Banks Told to Prepare for Jump in Cybercrime (5:44 p.m. HK)
The European Central Bank has warned banks to prepare for a possible jump in the number of cyber attacks as part of the fallout from the coronavirus. The watchdog urged banks in a letter this week to test the capacity of their technology systems “also in light of a potential increase of cyber-attacks and potential higher reliance on remote banking services.” That suggests the ECB is concerned criminals may seek to take advantage of the chaos caused by the virus.
More Banks Split Teams (5:09 p.m. HK)
Danske Bank A/S is splitting up its trading floor to protect staff from the spread of the novel coronavirus, as the number of cases across the Nordic region grows. Saxo Bank A/S has also split up some of its departments and imposed a global travel ban.
Singapore Warns of Global Pandemic (5:03 p.m. HK)
The deadly coronavirus, which has now spread to more than 70 countries worldwide, looks to be becoming a global pandemic, Singapore’s National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday.
With cases emerging throughout Europe and in the U.S. “it is starting to look like a global pandemic everywhere in the world and as I said it is not going to be possible to shut ourselves out,” said Wong, who is co-chair of a multi-ministry task force established to deal with the virus.
U.K.’s Vallance Says Vaccine Likely 12-18 Months Away (4:56 p.m. HK)
The U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said it’s unlikely a coronavirus vaccine will be developed in time for this outbreak, and that said 12 to 18 months is a more realistic time-frame for the development of a working vaccine.
“I don’t think we’ll get a vaccine for this outbreak, I don’t think we’ll get something in time and in scale for this outbreak,” Vallance told BBC radio on Friday. “That said, there have been remarkable changes in our ability to make and discover vaccines just in the last few years. Things have progressed much more quickly than they would have done in the past.”
China Scientist Says Need to Monitor Potential Virus Mutation (4:05 p.m. HK)
China is actively monitoring potential coronavirus mutations and so far hasn’t experienced any that have affected the country’s drug, antibody and vaccine development, Zhou Qi, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at a briefing.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook Urge Work From Home (3:58 p.m. HK)
Google told its Bay Area employees they can work from home because of the outbreak, according to a person familiar with the matter. The voluntary policy covers headquarters in Mountain View, California, and campuses in Sunnyvale and San Francisco.
Microsoft Corp. disclosed the first known cases of coronavirus infection among its employees Thursday, joining Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. in revealing the disease in their ranks.
Earlier, Facebook encouraged all staff in the Bay Area to work from home starting Friday. The social-media giant said it will review the situation on a weekly basis. Facebook’s Seattle-area workers were encouraged to work from home until the end of March.
Travel Demand in China Is Rebounding (2:05 p.m. HK)
Reservations for domestic flights and hotels in China are recovering from the virus-induced slump as people return to work across the nation, online travel company Tongcheng-Elong Holdings Ltd. said.
Hotel bookings in the week to March 1 surged 40% from the previous week, while peak daily bookings for domestic flights soared 230% from the lowest level recorded in February, the company said.
(A previous version corrected the timeline of cases in France)
–With assistance from Adveith Nair, Jihye Lee, Jon Herskovitz, Shiho Takezawa, Max Zimmerman, Shoko Oda, Dina Bass, Edwin Chan, Harry Suhartono, Peter Elstrom, Greg Ritchie, Katharina Rosskopf, Charles Penty, Deana Kjuka, Patrick Winters, Bill Lehane, Gordana Filipovic, Alessandro Speciale, Andrew Davis, Flavia Rotondi and Nikos Chrysoloras.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Adveith Nair in London at [email protected];Li Liu in Beijing at [email protected];Amanda Gordon in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at [email protected], Adveith Nair, Michael Tighe
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com” data-reactid=”91″>For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.” data-reactid=”92″>Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Add Comment