In other news, Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow says Trump's angry phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson concerning his decision not to ban Huawei won't prevent them from negotiating a trade deal with the U.K.
Consider me unconvinced.
Meanwhile, Kudlow also says Trump's "national security" tariffs on European cars and car parts are on hold while they want to see if they'll make a deal with the European Union.
The truth is the legal authority to impose them for "national security" reasons expired.
Finally, the market is finally getting worried about a significant slowdown in consumer spending in China.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 300 points lower, or 1%. The S&P 500 dipped 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite also slid 0.6%. Those losses put the major averages on pace to snap a four-day winning streak.
China’s National Health Commission on Friday confirmed 31,131 cases of the deadly pneumonia-like virus in the country, with 636 deaths. These numbers have stoked worries about how China’s economy — the second-largest in the world — will be affected. Chinese economic slowed down last year to 6.1% from 6.8% in 2018.
“China is really slowing and that’s worrying people for sure,” said Ed Hyman, chairman of Evercore ISI, on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “People are not going out. They are not shopping, and that’s what’s hurting particularly China.” Hyman added he sees 0% growth for the Chinese economy this quarter.
Trump considers it a slam dunk when China's economy slows down, but China is home to over 400 million middle class consumers and what happens there doesn't stay there.
Growth of 0 percent would be a disaster. JP Morgan cut their expectations for China's economic growth to 1 percent, but that would also be a disaster in an economy that grows over 6 percent each year.