No pilgrims In a sign of how serious the global crisis is becoming—new infections outside China now outnumber those within—Saudi authorities are blocking foreigners from coming into the country for pilgrimage or tourism purposes. That means Muslims from outside Saudi Arabia are unable to visit the Prophet's Mosque in Medina or perform the 'Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told all schools to close for a month, from Monday. And Israel is taking the extraordinary step of banning all foreign travelers entering the country from Italy. CNBC Pope Francis sick a day after supporting coronavirus sufferers https://nypost.com/2020/02/27/pope-francis-sick-a-day-after-supporting-coronavirus-sufferers/
Stocks Are Down Again as FDA Official Says Coronavirus Is ‘on the Cusp of a Pandemic’ By Nicholas Jasinski Updated Feb. 26, 2020 3:29 pm ET / Original Feb. 26, 2020 12:40 pm ET Order Reprints Print Article Text size 3:26 p.m.U.S. stocks fell into negative territory, giving upearlier gains,after a Food and Drug Administration official gave downbeat remarks about the future path of the coronavirus outbreak spreading across the world. “For all intents and purposes, I think it’s fair to say we’re on the cusp of the pandemic,” Peter Marks, the head of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said on Wednesday at the SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference. “Is it definitely going to happen? No, but there is significant concern, as of overnight we have cases on six continents.” TheDow Jones Industrial Average was down about 0.4%, or 110 points, while theS&P 500had fallen 0.3% and theNasdaq Compositewas about 0.3% higher. Can It Hold?Feb. 24-26Source: FactSet %NASDAQ CompositeIndexS&P 500 IndexDow Jones IndustrialAverageFeb. 24Feb. 25Feb. 26-8-6-4-20 It was a quick reversal from the morning, when it appeared that stocks had begun to rebound from two days of steep losses to start the week. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq had each been up more than 1.5% earlier on Wednesday. If the market closes lower, it will be the fifth losing trading day in a row for U.S. indexes, which included the largest two-day point fall ever to start the week. Write toNicholas Jasinski atnicholas.jasinski@barrons.com https://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-italy-south-korea-revenue-exposure-coronavirus-51582667395
Next wager .... uS Census recounts? https://www.wgrz.com/mobile/article...mpics/71-7558a674-f8d6-44ed-979e-da7468faf8c7