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FINANCIAL MARKETS
Stocks fall on Wall Street, head for worst week since 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday and were on track for their worst week since October 2008 as the spreading coronavirus threatens to derail the global economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as many as 1,085 points.
The benchmark S&P 500 index has now lost 14% since hitting a record high just 10 days ago. The rout has knocked every major index into what market watchers call a “correction,” or a fall of 10% or more from a peak. The last time that occurred was in late 2018, as a tariff war with China was escalating.
Market watchers have said for months that stocks were heavily overpriced and long overdue for another pullback.
Financial and health care stocks were among the biggest losers in Friday's broad market slide. Only energy, the worst performing sector this year, held on to a tiny gain.
Bond prices soared again as investors sought safety and became more pessimistic about the economy's prospects. That pushed yields to more record lows. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell sharply, to 1.16% from 1.30% late Thursday. That yield is a benchmark for home mortgages and many other kinds of loans.
Crude oil prices sank 5% over worries that global travel and shipping will be severely crimped and hurt demand for energy. The price of benchmark U.S. crude has now fallen 16.1% this week.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Financial pain deepens as nearly 60 countries report virus
TOKYO (AP) — A deepening health crisis became an economic one too Friday as the coronavirus outbreak sapped financial markets, emptied shops and businesses and put major sites and events off limits.
The list of countries hit by the illness edged toward 60 as Mexico, Belarus, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Iceland and the Netherlands reported their first cases. The threats to livelihoods were increasingly as worrisome as the threats to lives.
Economists have forecast global growth will slip to 2.4% this year, the slowest since the Great Recession in 2009, and down from earlier expectations closer to 3%. For the United States, estimates are falling to as low as 1.7% growth this year, down from 2.3% in 2019.
But if the disease known as COVID-19 becomes a global pandemic, economists expect the impact could be much worse, with the U.S. and other global economies falling into recession.
The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the risk of the virus spreading worldwide was “very high," citing the “continued increase in the number of cases and the number of affected countries.”
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DRUG SHORTAGE
US reports first drug shortage tied to virus outbreak
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health officials reported the first U.S. drug shortage tied to the viral outbreak that is disrupting production in China, but they declined to identify the manufacturer or the product.
The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that the drug's maker recently contacted officials about the shortage, which it blamed on a manufacturing issue with the medicine's key ingredient.
The FDA previously said it had reached out to 180 drug manufacturers to check their supply chain and report any potential disruptions. The agency also said it had identified 20 drugs produced or sourced exclusively from China, but it declined to name them.
For decades the pharmaceutical industry has shifted manufacturing to China, India and other countries to take advantage of cheaper labor and materials. Today roughly 80 percent of the ingredients used in U.S. medicines are made abroad, according to federal figures. India and other Asian nations rely on Chinese drug ingredients to make finished generic pills.
China ranks second among countries that send drugs and biotech medicines to the U.S., according to the FDA. It is also the top exporter of medical devices and equipment to the U.S.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-FACE MASK SHORTAGES
Viral fear sparks global run on face masks
UNDATED (AP) — Fear of the spreading coronavirus has led to a global run on sales of face masks despite evidence that most people who aren't sick don't need to wear them.
Many businesses are sold out, while others are limiting how many a customer can buy. Amazon is policing its site, trying to make sure sellers don't gouge panicked buyers.
In the U.S., Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s and True Value Hardware are reporting a sharp uptick in sales of masks over the past several weeks and say they are scrambling to get more from suppliers.
On Amazon, the best-selling item in its health and household section Thursday was a pack of three cotton masks for $19.99. Ten-packs of 3M masks were sold out.
In South Korea, hundreds lined up to buy masks from a discount store. Rumors that toilet paper and napkins could be used as masks have emptied store shelves in Asia of paper goods over the past few weeks.
The shortages are being attributed not just to high demand, but to disruptions in supply: An outsize share of the world’s surgical masks are made in China — 50%, by its own estimate. But even factories there that have ramped up production say they are hard pressed to meet local demand. The government has taken over manufacturers, and exports have plunged.
FCC-WIRELESS-PRIVACY FINES
FCC proposes fines for phone companies that shared user data
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission has proposed roughly $200 million in fines combined for the country's four major phone companies for improperly disclosing customers' real-time location.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said during a news conference Friday that the fines amounted to $91 million for T-Mobile, $57 million for AT&T, $48 million for Verizon and $12 million for Sprint. More details were to be released later Friday. The carriers can object to the proposed fines, which could change.
Location data makes it possible to identify the whereabouts of nearly any phone in the U.S. The carriers had apparently allowed outside companies to pinpoint the location of wireless devices without their owners’ knowledge or consent, according to published reports.
Federal law requires that telecommunications carriers protect the confidentiality of some customer data, including location information. The FCC says that carriers must try to protect against unauthorized attempts to gain access to this data and that they or those acting on their behalf must get consent from customers before using it.
In a release Friday, the agency said that the fines were for the carriers “apparently selling access to their customers’ location information without taking reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to that information.”
GENERAL MOTORS-FACTORY JOBS
General Motors to add 1,200 workers at 2 Michigan factories
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is adding 1,200 jobs at two Michigan factories to build midsize SUVs and two new luxury sedans.
GM said Friday that its Lansing Delta Township plant will get a third shift and 800 more workers to build the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave SUVs, which have three rows of seats.
The Lansing Grand River plant will get a second shift and 400 more workers to build two new Cadillac sedans, the CT4 and CT5.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said employees laid off at other GM factories will fill the new jobs first, then workers will be added. He said the company has not determined yet how many new people will be needed.
The company said both additional shifts will start working sometime between April and June.
Lansing Delta Township now employs about 2,500 salaried and blue-collar workers, while the Grand River plant has 1,400.
CONGRESS-VAPING
House approves bill to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to stem a vaping epidemic among young people, the House has approved a bill to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.
The bill would place new restrictions on the marketing of e-cigarettes and ban flavors in tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. The bill also would place a new excise tax on nicotine.
The House approved the bill, 213-195, on Friday, sending it to the Senate, where approval is considered unlikely. The White House said in a statement that President Donald Trump's administration opposes the bill.
Supporters said the legislation provides a comprehensive strategy to reverse a teen vaping epidemic that officials fear is hooking a generation of young people on nicotine. In the latest government survey, more than 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month. Late last year, Congress approved a law raising the minimum age to buy all tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21 nationwide.
Opponents said the House bill went too far, noting that the new law raising the age of tobacco use has been in effect for only two months.
Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus said banning menthol cigarettes could harm black smokers. African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes at a far higher rate than the rest of the U.S. population, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
FOREVER CHEMICALS-SKI WAX
Ski racing community starts to back away from toxic wax
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — At ski races across the United States, competitors are starting to abandon a type of wax many count on for speed amid concerns it contains potentially hazardous chemicals that threaten human health and could reach streams and other critical groundwater sources.
The International Ski Federation, the governing body for international skiing, announced plans to ban the use of fluorinated waxes in all disciplines next season.
Those waxes contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS. They are commonplace in the environment and have been linked to a growing list of health problems.
Nordiq Canada, the governing body for cross-country skiing in Canada, also prohibited high and medium fluorinated waxes in most cross-country races this season. The Norwegian Ski Association, meanwhile, banned the use of fluorinated glide wax — used in both classic and skate skiing — for all athletes under age 16 two years ago.
That leaves skiers to use hydrocarbon waxes on their skis.
While coaches say they are ready for a ban, until the International Ski Federation rules go into effect the waxes still will be used in national races, and they worry about how the ban will be enforced.
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