The Dow's early gains evaporated Wednesday afternoon, dropping from a session high of up 300 points to finish the day down 167. Stocks fell because the latest news from the Federal Reserve confirmed for investors that economic growth will lead to higher interest rates, per CNBC.
The Fed "made it clear that you're going to see more rate hikes ... The question for the market now is how many."— market strategist Quincy Krosby to CNBC
The stock market ended its worst week since the financial crisis, prompting the Fed to release a statement. Meanwhile, the WHO warned that countries are losing their chance to contain the novel coronavirus and raised its global risk assessment to "very high" Friday.
The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,860 people and infected more than 84,000 others in over 60 countries and territories outside the epicenter in mainland China. The number of new cases reported outside China now exceed those inside the country.
Gov. Gavin Newsom. Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
A new case of the novel coronavirus in California was announced on Friday after Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that 33 people had tested positive for the virus, noting the risk to the public remains low.
What's new: An adult woman with chronic health conditions in Santa Clara County who "did not recently travel overseas" or come into contact with anyone known to be ill was confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus on Friday by CDC and California Department of Public Health officials.
Photo: GDC
Next month's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco became the latest tech event to be cancelled or postponed amid growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The big picture: A growing number of events are being scrapped, including Mobile World Congress and Facebook's F8 developer conference. Some, like the giant SXSW event in Austin, insist they are moving forward.