HHS Secretary Alex Azar appears on Face The Nation with professional drama queen Margaret Brennan to discuss ongoing Coronavirus mitigation efforts.  Ms. Brennan uses her best dramatic voice, and a recently attained expertise in virology, to advance her network’s emotional hunches that all hope is lost.  Ms. Brennan is verklempt.
The drama and anxiety riddled questioning is so stunningly over-the-top, mid-way through the segment the interview becomes a parody unto itself.  WATCH:

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Economic Nationalism -vs- Economic Globalism

Despite the intense doomsayer predictions surrounding the ‘Coronavirus as an economic contagion’ narrative, the U.S. economy remains strong. When evaluating economic impacts for the USA it is important to remember 80 percent of all activity within the U.S. is internal.  We create and consume eighty percent of our own production.

The U.S. economy is unique in the amount of balance within it as compared to other industrial economies.  We are not dependent on exports to sustain our economy; and we are not dependent on any imports at the macro level.  Unlike China, Asia and Europe, and despite decades of efforts by globalists and multinationals, the U.S. generates and sustains a tremendous amount of our own economic prosperity.  First the January data:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reveals data today showing January wage growth .5%, personal income increases .6%, consumer spending at .2%; overall U.S. savings at $1.33 trillion, and low inflation at 1.7 percent year-over-year.  Solid and stable.
Both consumer spending (+.2 Jan) and inflation (1.6% Jan) were impacted by lower energy prices (-.7%) & mild weather in January.  Reuters spins the lower rate of spending growth to imply a contracting U.S. consumer; there is no data to support that narrative.
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White House Manufacturing and Trade Advisor Peter Navarro has been advocating for a return to U.S. production of medical products as a matter of national security.  With the spread of the Chinese Coronavirus and a rapid depletion of medical response products, Navarro’s concerns carry more weight than ever before.
President Trump has tasked Navarro with lead position coordinating the administration response to U.S. supply chain impacts.  In this interview with Charles Payne, Peter Navarro outlines the ongoing efforts to address all Coronavirus impacts.

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On the economic front President Trump has positioned the U.S. to withstand supply chain disruption better than most consumer economies. Starting from a position that the U.S. was too dependent on Chinese products; over the past two years Trump has pressured companies to return to the U.S. or find alternate suppliers outside China. During the two-year tariff battle many companies did exactly that. As a result those companies are not dependent on Chinese component goods. A proactive position is now helping many U.S. companies avoid the China economic contagion, and insulating their business interest.
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) now admits to an internal report showing the Coronavirus did not originate from the Huanan food market as they initially stated.
Senator Tom Cotton has previously questioned the origination claim because there is a level-4 biological weapons lab in Wuhan, China, where the Huanan market is located.  Tonight Senator Cotton tweets vindication toward his original suspicions:
(Via Global Times) A new study by Chinese researchers indicates the novel coronavirus may have begun human-to-human transmission in late November from a place other than the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.
The study published on ChinaXiv, a Chinese open repository for scientific researchers, reveals the new coronavirus was introduced to the seafood market from another location, and then spread rapidly from market to market. The findings were the result of analyses of genome-wide data, sources of infection and the route of spread of 93 samples of the novel coronavirus collected from 12 countries across four continents.
The study believes that patient zero transmitted the virus to workers or sellers at the Huanan seafood market. The crowded market facilitated the further transmission of the virus to buyers, which caused a wider spread in early December 2019.
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Senator Tom Cotton appears on Fox News to discuss the latest on the troubling issues with the Coronavirus.  China has approximately 70 million people in quarantine during their effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Senator Cotton has been a leading voice in the U.S. warning about the potential risks from Coronavirus spread.  Interestingly Mr. Cotton explains the origination of the virus did not come from the food market initially blamed. However there is a level-4 bio-lab within a few miles of the Wuhan market. Occam’s razor? Interesting information.

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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox News to discuss the strong January jobs report of 225,000 gains.  Navarro highlights something few pay attention to.  The Trump administration not only focuses on the macro policy principles to create the economic environment for job growth, but President Trump also personally engages on specific company, state, and regional efforts.
The engagement of a U.S. president to discuss and influence U.S. jobs on a company by company basis, and get down in the details of deals, is a completely unique political standard in the modern era.  President Trump is very uniquely fighting for each job.

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It is very disappointing to hear vulture capitalist Jeff Bezos having a disinterest in protecting American intellectual property rights, and instead choosing to accept/allow cheap Chinese, knock-off goods as the backbone of his Amazon business model.
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Even before the Coronavirus surfaced in China there was lower manufacturing factory activity within the Chinese economy.  The necessary response within China to control the spread of the Coronavirus has been to shut down most commerce.  Factories, schools &  businesses throughout China are empty as various containment measures are underway.

The direct result of this response is a severe drop in economic activity.  Many analysts are speculating about how this cessation of production might impact supply chains that use Chinese component goods.  Obviously, with manufacturing facilities closed any downstream multinational company relying on those products may have supply issues as soon as existing inventories deplete.
There is a natural lag before the manufacturing void hits the consumer market; however, the financial markets are forward looking and they are already reflecting severe drops in stock prices, depending on the dependency/exposure of the company and/or sector.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese stock and commodity markets fell heavily on Monday as the death toll from a coronavirus epidemic in China rose to 361 and investors retreated into safe-haven assets in the first trading session after an extended Lunar New Year break.

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Earlier today the federal Coronavirus Task Force established by President Trump held a press conference to explain the U.S. response status and answer media questions.
The task force is being led by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and includes:  Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Matthew Pottinger, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.
[Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – SECRETARY AZAR: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I’m Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Chairman of the President’s Task Force on the Novel Coronavirus.

I’m going to start by turning things over to Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to discuss the current situation on the novel coronavirus. Dr. Redfield.

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The Bureau of Economic Analysis released their first estimate of Q4 GDP growth today.  The BEA first estimate is 2.1 percent growth for the fourth quarter and 2.3 percent growth for the year. [Data Here]   The U.S. economy is now approximately $21.7 trillion.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ‘big picture’ outlook for the U.S. economy.  Strong employment, strong wage growth, strong consumer spending, and now the USMCA passage delivering the backdrop for domestic capital investment.   Good interview:

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The headwinds by Boeing and the GM strike had some negative impact.  However, 2019 was dominated by Wall Street multinational investors taking the ‘wait-n-see’ position on the China/Asia -vs- USMCA trade dynamic (manufacturing investment) overall.
The USMCA passage gives certainty to North American manufacturing investment.  The China ‘phase-one’ agreement allows time for re-positioning, and/or time to extract profits from prior investment.  A corporate decision to manufacture in China is now based on an entirely different set of considerations than 24 months ago…. ‘phase-one’ buys time but doesn’t reduce the long-term risk.  North America is now the place for investment stability.
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The Coronavirus was first first diagnosed in China less than a month ago. On Thursday (U.S.) / Friday (Beijing) the Chinese government stated they have confirmed cases of 830 patients and the death toll has risen to 25.
The virus has infected more than a dozen people outside China around the world, mostly in Asia. However, the first U.S. case has been reported in Texas who traveled to the epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan City, China.

A total of 18 million people are now under quarantine in China.

(Via CNBC) […] Local authorities in China have quarantined Wuhan and Huanggang, which have a combined population of 17 million. Including Wuhan where the virus was first identified, travel bans were in effect Thursday for at least eight cities.
[…] The previously unknown, flu-like coronavirus strain is believed to have emerged from an animal market in central Wuhan city.

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