The total number of Wuhan Coronavirus cases currently stands at 85,206, distributed among 60 nations and territories. The death toll stands at 2,923.
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that China is getting the situation related to the COVID-19 coronavirus under control.
“I mean, if you look at the numbers, they’re coming down day by day by day. So I’m very optimistic there,” Cook said in an interview with Fox Business.Although the majority of COVID-19 cases have been in China, officials have started to report declines in new cases in recent days.Cook’s optimistic remarks are one of the first signs that China’s supply chain has started to get back to work. Apple warned in February that it will not meet its March quarter sales forecast because the coronavirus could hurt iPhone supply around the world, as well as lower demand in China related to the coronavirus.
There were some signs that the media-induced market sell-off is now slowing down. First, Chinese stocks surged, as signs continue to show that the rate of coronavirus infections is slowing down.
Mainland Chinese stocks were among the biggest winners regionally, with the Shenzhen component jumping 1.6% to close at 10,940.80 and the Shenzhen composite surging 1.554% to end its trading day at about 1,785.33. The Shanghai composite also gained 0.87% to close at around 2,926.90. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.1% higher, as of its final hour of trading.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.74% to close at 23,861.21 as shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group surged 11.89% after a judge stateside approved a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. Softbank is a majority shareholder of Sprint. The Topix index, on the other hand, ended its trading day slightly lower at 1,718.92.Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.69% to close at 2,238.38.
I would like to point out that despite all the media drama, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was showing signs of recovery toward the end of the trading on Friday and the NASDAQ made a small gain.
One of the winners in Friday’s trading was Netflix.
Netflix stock actually got a bump this week as the rest of the world’s markets were taking a dive over coronavirus concerns.The price of Netflix stock rose .08 per cent over the past five days, as analysts say they see the virus delivering a short-term benefit to streaming services.Their reasoning is that people who are forced into quarantine, or workers who stay home to avoid infection, will need to watch something to pass the time.
The New York Stock Exchange may close its trading floor amid press-induced panic about the spread of coronavirus and employee travel concerns.
‘NYSE preparing for possibility floor can’t open amid panic,’ Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino tweeted just before the markets closed on Friday.Wall Street firms are also restricting travel and telling employees they may have to work from home, Gaparino said.A spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that ‘NYSE is carefully monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and has robust contingency plans, tested regularly, to enable continuous operation of the NYSE exchanges should any facilities be impacted.
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