Here's some not-so-cheery news today, via Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe:
"Officials from China suggest the coronavirus is 20 times dead deadlier than the seasonal flu," she said.
"According to the Chinese CDC, the outbreak is 2.3% higher than mortality rate for seasonal flu, which in the U.S. is around 0.1%. Meanwhile, more than 300 Americans evacuated from a contaminated cruise ship in Japan, including 14 who tested positive for the coronavirus, at the last minute were flown home to military bases in California and Texas for a two-week quarantine after two weeks of already being under quarantine off Japan. The U.S. government decided to let the infected evacuees who weren't exhibiting symptoms board flights after consulting with health experts. The number of confirmed cases in China surged past 73,000, with the death toll now standing at nearly 1900 cases. We'll be talking a lot more about that.
"CNBC's Dominic Chu is following the continued economic fallout from the virus outbreak. Dom, what's the latest?"
"Mika, what we have is Apple. Add them to the list of companies that said there will be a big impact on their business due to spread of the deadly coronavirus, as you pointed out. They said they do not expect to meet financial targets and goals for the current quarter because of the coronavirus, saying there's a, quote, slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated," Chu said.
"It is a big deal because China at least provides an estimated 15% of total sales at Apple, gets that from the greater China region, including places like Taiwan, Hong Kong. Moody's is lowering the forecast for this year, it is having wide ranging ripple effects, Apple is the latest company."