by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
In January, consumers carried on in hunky-dory land.
Consumer spending accounts for roughly 70% of the economy as measured by GDP. When and how will the reaction by consumers to the coronavirus – dollars spent and not spent – become visible in the overall economic data? That’s the question we’ll try to find answers to going forward. But according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis today, in January, American consumers in aggregate were still in hunky-dory land.
from ZeroHedge:
One week ago, ahead of today’s Chinese data release which would for the first time capture the devastation from the coronavirus pandemic, we wrote that “to those who have been following our series of high-frequency, daily indicators of China’s economy, it will probably not come as a surprise that the world’s second biggest economy has ground to a halt, its GDP set to post the first negative print in modern history. To everyone else who is just now catching up, we have some news: it’s going to be bad.”
by Paul Joseph Watson, Summit News:
Tinned food, water, toilet paper & surgical masks all flying off the shelves.
Fears over the coronavirus impacting supply chains have continued to drive panic buying of food, water, toilet paper and surgical masks across numerous major countries today.
More than 50 countries now have confirmed coronavirus cases, with the worst hit countries outside of China being Iran and Italy. BBC News reports that at least 210 people in Iran had died from the virus, way higher than official government figures.
by Alasdair Macleod, GoldMoney:
This was the week that markets finally took notice of the coronavirus. Bonds soared and equities crashed in a flight to perceived safety. Base metals began to slide as the reality of global factory closures took hold. Oil prices slumped.
After an initial spike on Monday to $1689, gold fell a net $15 to $1627 on the week in early European trade this morning. Silver, presumably reflecting the weakness of base metals fell $1.30 to $17.21 over the same time frame.
from World Alternative Media:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPial2FBy0
from Stefan Molyneux:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeduTpQNRUc
from The Mind Unleashed:
It is likely that the virus is far more widespread in Iran than we are being told.
(TMU) — Iran now has the largest number of coronavirus related deaths outside of China but still has a relatively low number of confirmed cases when compared with other areas that have been hit hard by the virus.
by Whitney Webb, MintPress News:
A little known financial mechanism set up by the World Bank could be behind the decision not to declare the coronavirus a pandemic reports Whitney Webb.
A little known specialized bond created in 2017 by the World Bank may hold the answer as to why U.S. and global health authorities have declined to label the global spread of the novel coronavirus a “pandemic.” Those bonds, now often referred to as “pandemic bonds,” were ostensibly intended to transfer the risk of potential pandemics in low-income nations to financial markets.
by Ryan Saavedra, Daily Wire:
Israeli scientists are reportedly only a few weeks away from having developed the first vaccine to combat the coronavirus, which originated in China, and could have the vaccine available 90 days after that.
“Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough,” Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” Akunis said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
by Lexi Morgan, Intellihub:
POTUS admits plans for full-scale martial law in America are on the table
WASHINGTON (INTELLIHUB) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to plummet at the opening on Thursday following President Donald Trump’s ominous announcement and admission that a larger-scale plan to contain the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen exists.
by Chris Menahan, Information Liberation:
Costco Wholesale, which is one of America’s biggest suppliers of long-term storable food, sold out of all their “emergency food kits” on their website after the CDC warned that Americans should be prepared in case the coronavirus becomes a pandemic.
Visitors to the “Emergency [Food] Kits & Supplies” section of their website are currently greeted with a message saying, “We’re sorry, no products were found.”
When I visited their site on Tuesday, only two products were listed, one of which was a large bin of macaroni and cheese. The site gave an error when I tried to open the page and said it was sold out. On Wednesday, the page was down altogether.
by Leo Zagami, InfoWars:
Pope seen coughing, blowing nose at Ash Wednesday service amid coronavirus outbreak
Officials are increasingly getting sick worldwide with COVID-19. The first to start this dangerous new trend was Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi the head of Iran’s coronavirus task force who revealed Tuesday he tested positive for the illness just one day after appearing visibly sick in a press conference organized to dispel the idea that Iran had been lying about the scale of the outbreak.
