What the Stock Market May Be Missing About the Coronavirus (Paywall)

So far the impact on U.S. assets has been muted, but there are reasons to fear that investors are being complacent

The trouble is the assumptions underlying the market reaction. The first is that the effects of the virus will be short-lived, and so can be (mostly) ignored.

Unfortunately, we have little idea whether this is true. If people can pass on the virus before they show symptoms, or if it turns out to be easier to catch than first thought, it may spread rapidly outside China.

TOLLED BY AN IDIOT (February 2)

Is this the end of life as we know it?

Can we keep on keeping on?

For some, undoubtedly, it will prove fatal

and they (very soon) will be gone

to whatever reward (or punishment)

they mistakenly think they have earned,

while those “left behind” (for the present)

will tidy up after, asking “What have we learned?”

Which, truth to tell, will not be much.

Learning is not what we do.

That we survive (I wouldn't say thrive)

is down to luck and muddling through.

Most of the time, we're less right than wrong

yet (somehow) we manage to stumble along.