Dow Jones Closes Down 1,000 Points amid Coronavirus Developments

The Dow Jones finished today down 1,031.61 points. Markets reacted strongly to recent developments concerning the Coronavirus, including new risk assessments by Italy, Iran, and South Korea, who has “raised the national alert for the [Coronavirus] outbreak to the highest level of ‘serious.'”

Director of the World Health Organization remarked how the “sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning.” However, as “we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus, and we are not witnessing large-scale severe disease or death”, the Coronavirus is not yet a “pandemic”.

As of this morning, there have been 79,331 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus globally, with 2,618 deaths. This includes 14 cases in the U.S. as well as 36 from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship.