Kameleon007/iStock(NEW YORK) — The coronavirus pandemic has quickly evolved from a health care crisis to a financial one, shuttering businesses, upending industries and sending financial markets reeling.
Here’s how the bay is unfolding. Please refresh for updates.
Markets spike early Friday
U.S. financial markets saw early gains Friday, possibly on hopes that the nation could begin plans to reopen its economy soon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 500 points, or over 2%, on Friday morning. The S&P 500 was also up more than 2% and the Nasdaq rose 1.3%.
On Thursday, Trump touted plans to reopen the American economy in phases. The president said some states could enter phase one of reopening “literally tomorrow.”
Medical authorities have warned, however, that more widespread testing and contact tracing would be necessary in order for the nation to safely reopen.
China’s economy shrunk by 6.8% in first three months of 2020
After years of uninterrupted growth, China reported Friday that its economy contracted by 6.8% in the first three months of the year compared to the same time last year as the a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The sharp contraction for the world’s second largest economy was released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, the same day that China revised its death toll for the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan up by 50%.
The country added 1,290 deaths for Wuhan, with a death toll that now stands at 3,869 in the city.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.