Alibaba CEO Calls Coronavirus "Black Swan Event" As Casualties Climb & Chinese Economy Slows
The Wuhan-originated novel coronavirus, dubbed CoViD-19 formally by virus researchers, is far from over — cases have reportedly spiked in Italy, according to The Washington Post, and the number infected in mainland China now sits at just below 77,000 people, with 2,442 recorded deaths from the coronavirus outbreak in China so far.
China’s economy is already slowing, especially in the restaurant and shopping sectors, as quarantines continue in several major cities there.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has spoken out on the magnitude of the outbreak, and its possible implications for the economy there. As Barron’s reported, Alibaba’s “chief executive warned the novel coronavirus is a ‘black swan event’ that is hurting the company’s performance and might affect the global economy.”
The coronavirus has been possibly very good for cryptocurrency markets, however — and as we speculated in the must-get weekly newsletter with unique research from here in DC, fear of touching physical cash (which could carry the virus) as well as general uncertainty could be fueling renewed interest. Crypto market leader Bitcoin is up about 35.4% over the last three months, according to coincap.io data, while #2 crypto network by market value Ethereum has gained about 77.1% during the same three month period.
The coronavirus first made international headlines back in December of 2019, when reports of mass infections and stronger-than-usual flu symptoms emerged on Chinese social media.
Keep reading — what we know so far about the Wuhan-originated novel coronavirus: