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Dow caps worst week since financial crisis, Trump calls outbreak a Democratic ‘hoax’

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All times below are in Beijing time.

9:37 am: North Korean leader calls for stronger anti-virus efforts

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for stronger anti-virus efforts to guard against COVID-19, saying there will be “serious consequences” if the illness spreads to the country. During a ruling party meeting, Kim called for the country’s anti-epidemic headquarters to strengthen screening and tests to seal off all “channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. Kim emphasized that all fields and units of the country should “unconditionally” obey quarantine instructions laid-out by the anti-epidemic headquarters. He called for the strict enforcement of preventive measures against what he described as a tricky virus that spreads rapidly. “In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” the agency quoted Kim as saying during the politburo meeting of the Workers’ Party. —Associated Press

9:11 am: 3M ramps up N95 respirator production

3M is ramping up production of its N95 respirator mask, hosting job fairs, making offers on the spot and expanding its assembly line with robots. In Aberdeen, South Dakota, more than 650 employees at one of 3M’s largest manufacturing facilities are working overtime to increase face mask production. “We immediately ramped up production in this facility,” Andy Rehder, plant manager at 3M, said. “We have capacity to do that and we did that immediately … really from a more standard five-day to a seven-day week.” —Mody

A worker restock popular 3M N95 particulate filtering face mask at a store in East Palo Alto, California, United States on January 26, 2020.

Yichuan Cao | NurPhoto | Getty Images

9:05 am: China confirms 427 new cases

China’s National Health Commission reported 427 new confirmed cases and 47 deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 79,251 as of 4 a.m. Beijing time. Across the world, the number of new cases tops 84,124 as new infections outside of China spread faster than within the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 2,867 people have died since the virus first emerged from Wuhan, China about two months ago. —Kopecki

8:43 am: Trump says the coronavirus is the Democrats’ ‘new hoax’

President Donald Trump said Democrats are using the virulent coronavirus as a “hoax” to damage him and his administration. “The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus,” he said from a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. “One of my people came up to me and said ‘Mr. President they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well.’ They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax that was on a perfect conversation,” he continued. “This is their new hoax,” he said, referring to the coronavirus. —Franck

7:43 am: Dow caps worst week for Wall Street since the financial crisis

Stocks tumbled once again on Friday, capping off their worst week since the financial crisis, as worries over the coronavirus and its impact on the economy continue to rattle investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 357.28 points, or more than 1{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00}, to 25,409.36. The 30-stock Dow briefly fell more than 1,000 points then rallied into the close in a wild trading session characteristic of the week. The S&P 500 slid 0.8{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} to 2,954.22. The Nasdaq Composite closed flat at 8,567.37 but fell as much as 3.5{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} on the day. For the week, the Dow fell more than 12{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} — its biggest weekly percentage loss since 2008. On a points basis, the Dow fell more than 3,500 points, far and away its largest weekly point loss ever. It also ended the week in correction territory, down 14.1{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} from an intraday record high set Feb. 12. —Imbert, Huang

Traders work on the floor of the New York stock Exchange (NYSE) on on February 24, 2020 in New York City. Stocks fell over 1000 points on Monday as global concerns grow about the economic impact of the Coronavirus.

Spencer Platt

6:45 am: United Airlines postpones investor day

has decided to postpone its investor day which was scheduled for next week given the uncertainty the coronavirus outbreak has created on booking and revenue projections. Earlier this week United pulled its 2020 guidance to the uncertainty created by Coronavirus. United shares were down Friday as airlines continued their sharp declines of the week as worries of a demand rattles investors. United also cut its Asia service amid a sharp drop in demand to the region. —LeBeau

6:30 am: US State Department raises Italy travel advisory to Level 3, stating ‘reconsider travel’

The State Department on Friday asked citizens to “reconsider travel to Italy” due to the coronavirus outbreak. “Many cases of COVID-19 have been associated with travel to or from mainland China or close contact with a travel-related case, but sustained community spread has been reported in Italy,’ the State Department advisory said. “Sustained community spread means that people have been infected with the virus, but how or where they became infected is not known, and the spread is ongoing. At this time, CDC recommends avoiding non-essential travel to Italy.” —Bhattacharjee

6:19 am: Santa Clara County health officials confirm new coronavirus case, 10th in California

The Santa Clara Public Health Department announced a third case of coronavirus in the county, which brings the total number of coronavirus cases in California to 10 and the total number of cases in the U.S. to 63, most of which are passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship and evacuees from Wuhan, China. County Officials will hold a press conference at 7 p.m. ET to discuss more details. The county said this case is different from the other two since the patient, an elderly woman, doesn’t have a travel history or any known contact with a traveler or infected person. “This new case indicates that there is evidence of community transmission but the extent is still not clear,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Health Officer for Santa Clara County and Director of the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department. “I understand this may be concerning to hear, but this is what we have been preparing for. Now we need to start taking additional actions to slow down the spread of the disease.” —Bhattacharjee

6:05 am: Corona beer sales have NOT taken a hit from virus fears

In any virus outbreak, there is sure to be plenty of misinformation that circulates, but it usually isn’t about beer. Constellation Brands, which sells Corona Extra beer, put out a press release Friday that said any worries about its beer sales are “unfounded.” In fact, the brand’s sales are up 5{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} for the four weeks ended Feb. 16, outpacing its trend over the past year. Earlier, ad agency 5WPR said it polled 737 people over the phone and found 16{ce8ce7cc98bffdc4302011057a79600ea02c464c5536f1477c12acdb8bd79c00} were confused about whether Corona beer was some somehow related to the novel coronavirus. “We’ve seen no impact to our people, facilities or operations and our business continues to perform very well,” the company said, adding it doesn’t have much exposure to international markets. —Cheddar Berk

Read CNBC’s coverage from CNBC’S U.S. team overnight here: Fears fuel sell-off, new California case, United postpones investor day.

— CNBC’s Seema Mody, Thomas Franck, Fred Imbert, Eustance Huang, Phil LeBeau, Riya Bhattacharjee, Christina Cheddar-Berk, Berkeley Lovelace Jr., William Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn and Reuters contributed to this report.

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