If you can't hold a gain after a thousand-point selloff, you know it's going to be an ugly day on Wall Street.
It took all of about twenty minutes for the Dow to go negative after the open this morning. We're down about 300 points as of this writing. The headlines keep showing new cases of coronavirus popping up in places like Catalonia. Deutsche Bank is imposing travel restrictions on its employees. A hotel in Tenerife is on lockdown. The CDC is on the wires this morning saying the virus is "rapidly evolving and expanding." Then HHS Secretary Azar said the U.S. may need up to 300 million face masks for healthcare workers.
The real "wow" factor is not even the stock market selloff, but rather bond yields; the 10-year benchmark rate is now threatening to go sub-1.3%*. Goldman's saying we should expect about a 1% GDP number for the U.S. in the first quarter. We'll talk to NEC Director Larry Kudlow himself about all of this at around 1:30 p.m. on the show today.
Speaking of face masks, my neighbor, who's a general contractor, came home after an hour of spackling this morning feeling awful because he'd had to breathe in the vile stuff the whole time. Why? Because the hardware store is out of...you guessed it...face masks. So you've got the general public now racing to stockpile masks that they may or may not need, but that people in certain harmful lines of work definitely do need and can't get their hands on. Here's a 20-pack of disposable masks--typically priced around $22--going for $145! (h/t Ben Berna.)
The WHO this morning also said something to the effect of "countries should instruct citizens now on hygiene." Gee, thanks. The CDC will now provide updates of the U.S. coronavirus numbers Mon./Weds./Fri. at 2 p.m. ET, which we'll be sure to cover on Power Lunch.
You know what story I'd love to cover? Secretary Azar is saying the U.S. has to establish supply and "build up manufacturing capacity" for surgical masks. No kidding. I'd love to see someone enterprising figure this out ASAP, Henry Kaiser-style. In fact, Patricia O'Toole's book "Money & Morals in America," which includes the story of Kaiser's incredible shipbuilding efforts during World War II, would be an excellent read right now.
See you at 1 p.m!
Kelly
*And home prices (as the S&P/Case-Shiller gauge showed this morning) are already reaccelerating! Imagine how they'll look as mortgage rates plunge...