Happy Tuesday and welcome back to On The Money, where we promise not to sneak any cauliflower into your mashed potatoes. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
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THE BIG DEAL– Stocks close with second day of steep losses amid coronavirus panic: Stocks on Tuesday extended a brutal stretch of losses into a second day as federal health officials warned Americans to prepare for an inevitable coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 878 points Tuesday, a decline of 3.1 percent, after a 1,031-point, 3.6-percent loss on Monday.
- The Nasdaq composite also fell roughly 2.8 percent, while the S&P 500 index sunk 3 percent.
The rapid decline in U.S. stock prices after six weeks of solid gains reflects a heightened sense of anxiety from Wall Street to Washington, D.C., over the potential health and economic impacts of the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak. I explain why here.
- More than 80,000 people in 35 countries have been confirmed to have contracted the potentially lethal respiratory illness, the vast majority of which are in China, where the virus is believed to have originated.
- The outbreak has claimed more than 2,600 lives and has spread quickly through Asia and into Europe with several dozen confirmed cases in the U.S.
- A sharp increase in South Korean coronavirus cases, a rapid outbreak within Italy, and concerns about Iran’s handling of the virus raised alarms over the weekend and prompted a stark warning from U.S. health officials Tuesday.
Nancy Messonnier, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Tuesday that an outbreak within the U.S. appears inevitable and the agency expects to see community spread of the disease.
“It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses,” she said. “Disruption to everyday life might be severe.”
But one White House official tried to downplay the outbreak. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday claimed that the virus had been contained in the U.S. and that the economic consequences would be limited.
“We have contained this. I won’t say [it’s] air-tight, but it’s pretty close to air-tight,” Kudlow, the National Economic Council director, said on CNBC’s “The Exchange. He called the outbreak a “human tragedy” that would not become an “economic tragedy.”
ON TAP TOMORROW
- Jovita Caranza, chief of the Small Business Administration, testifies before the House Small Business Committee on the SBA’s fiscal 2021 budget, 11:30 a.m.
- Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar testifies before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on his department’s fiscal 2021 budget and its response to the coronavirus outbreak, 1:30 p.m.
LEADING THE DAY
New Social Security rule limits access to non-English speakers: The Trump administration on Monday finalized a rule that would limit access to Social Security disability benefits for non-English speakers.
- One of the steps necessary to claim disability benefits is an assessment of an applicant’s education, part of an effort to check whether they have the capacity to find work outside the scope of their medical condition. Until now, the education assessment would take into account whether the applicant spoke English.
- The new rule, which goes into effect April 27, would remove English speaking as a factor of educational attainment, making it more difficult for non-English speakers to qualify for the aid.
The Hill’s Niv Elis has more here.
Financial trade tax gains traction with 2020 Democrats: Democratic presidential candidates across the ideological spectrum are calling for taxes on financial trades, breathing new life into an idea that for many years was promoted primarily in progressive circles.
Financial transaction taxes (FTTs) aren’t a new idea. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who won the Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses on Saturday, floated such a tax during his 2016 campaign. And progressive lawmakers have offered legislation to create such a tax for years.
But the 2020 election is putting a new spotlight on FTTs, particularly because it’s not just progressive candidates who are calling for them on the campaign trail. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us why here.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Trump administration officials said Tuesday that they expect China to meet an ambitious commitment to import nearly $40 billion in American agricultural products despite the economic toll of the coronavirus outbreak.
- JPMorgan Chase has announced plans to stop offering loans to companies pursuing new fossil fuel drilling in the Arctic Circle.
- Ashley Lewis, the former Democratic communications director for the Senate Banking Committee and ranking member Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), is joining communications firm Edelman as a vice president on its financial communications team.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Amazon has reportedly sent warnings to sellers of medical face masks on its platform who it says are not in compliance with its policies, warning that price gouging will result in their removal from the marketplace.