Global Market Sink As Coronavirus Spreads; Grand Princess Cruise Ship Docks Today With 21 Infected Aboard; Six States Set To Vote Tomorrow.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Markets around the world shudder, stocks dive overnight, oil prices crash, and investors run for cover. How the coronavirus and an oil war could make for a very chaotic day.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of passengers and crew will dock today after almost a week in limbo over coronavirus. What's next in their long journey home?</s>JARRETT: And, Bernie Sanders facing a big test tomorrow in Michigan. Can he beat back the Joe Biden surge and can he stay viable if he doesn't? Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. And today is the 11th anniversary of the bull market and today stocks face the biggest test since the Great Recession. Today, it's not just the coronavirus, oil prices are crashing. More on that in just a moment. But in the stock market, U.S. stock index futures down so sharply it triggered a mechanism to stop the damage at one point and they stopped trading when they hit five percent lower. You see markets around the world tumbling. Asian markets down sharply. European shares then opened dramatically lower. You have strained supply chains, workers staying home. Deutsche Bank, this weekend, lowered its second-quarter GDP forecast in the U.S. to negative 0.6 percent -- a contraction. A shrinking U.S. economy because of the concern about the damage of coronavirus. The 10-year Treasury yield has collapsed to an all-time low, dropping below 0.5 percent as investors around the world pile into safe-haven assets. This a warning sign there is risk of recession around the world. The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for borrowers. Congress passed an $8.3 billion emergency funding package. Now, that includes money for local businesses, for communities, hospitals, testing, and diagnoses. But what about American workers? A Brookings study shows 53 million Americans earn just about $18,000 a year. They are more likely to live paycheck-to-paycheck. They cannot afford to miss work if they feel sick. Many white-collar companies are asking employees to work from home. Now, it's easy for engineers and business managers who are paid to work for home -- from home and can bring their laptops home, but what about rank and file workers who have customer-facing jobs? Uber and Lyft said they will compensate drivers for up to 14 days if they are diagnosed with coronavirus or put under quarantine. We'll be looking to see if other companies do the same. As for what's next, it looks like markets expect two more rate cuts from the Fed. It meets again March 18th. But there are major concerns the Fed doesn't have much ammunition to really juice the financial system. It's other trick, buying up mortgages and other U.S.-backed securities, but that only works when it's buying up these things at higher interest rates. There's some chatter the Fed may need to buy other things, like stocks. That would take an act of Congress to expand the Fed's mandate.</s>JARRETT: Market turmoil is about more than just the buyers. Oil prices suffered a historic collapse late Sunday after Saudi Arabia shocked the market by launching a price war against one-time ally Russia. U.S. oil down as much as 33 percent overnight. CNN's John Defterios is live in London for us. John, how big of a surprise was this move by Saudi Arabia?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, in fact, I was at the OPEC+ meeting, Laura, Thursday and Friday and they were aiming to cut 1.5 million barrels a day off the market again. That was the desire of Saudi Arabia. The Russians pushed back. I think the biggest surprise is that this was like a family dispute that spilled out into the open. And then we had Saudi Arabia double down over the weekend, cutting prices to its preferred customers -- the big oil companies, particularly in Asia, by $4.00 to $7.00 a barrel, and that triggered the price war. So it's almost like we have the number one and two big exporters of the world pulling off the gloves ready to duke it out in the market right now. And no doubt, the U.S. shale producers will take a few punches along the way. I think we have to look at this stock market correction as perhaps leading up, as Christine was saying, to a recession, and this will not be good for the oil patch going forward. Now, you have the oils states -- Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico -- basins even in North Dakota. They've had a fantastic 10-year run. But at $30.00 a barrel, it will be much more competitive. So we see Vladimir Putin of Russia testing the shale producers. Saudi Arabia wanted to keep a stable market and at this stage said look, if Russia's not going to go along, we're going to cut our prices and we're going to go all-out for market share. It will get pretty nasty over the next three months. The silver lining this morning is that we seem to have a stable price, at least, with that correction. And we're between $32.00 and $36.00 a barrel, depending on the benchmark of crude you're looking at right now. It's not the route that we saw two hours ago -- a little bit more stable -- but a huge correction.</s>ROMANS: But, John, for the average consumer and investor looking at this today -- I mean, I think it's important, right? How historic is this -- 0.5 percent Treasury yield, stock markets in correction and gunning for bear market territory if the field keeps going like this, and an oil market crash all at once?</s>DEFTERIOS: It's a perfect storm, Christine, no doubt about it. I'm saying that the coronavirus is like a black swan. We didn't see it coming --</s>JARRETT: Yes.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>DEFTERIOS: -- and therefore, it had everybody flat-footed, right? And when it comes to the oil market here, Saudi Arabia had this intention to stabilize the market. Russia went against it and right now, they're just clashing like crazy. And it's not a healthy environment here for oil, which you'll have a spillover effect on U.S. jobs, particularly in the oil and gas patches --</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>JARRETT: Yes.</s>DEFTERIOS: -- which have been so successful for a decade.</s>ROMANS: And you'll see bankruptcies and job losses there for sure --</s>JARRETT: Yes.</s>ROMANS: -- like Oklahoma and Texas, you know.</s>JARRETT: And clash with workers -- real workers in the middle. All right. John, thanks so much. Good to see you. Well, a big test today --</s>DEFETERIOS: You bet.</s>JARRETT: -- for U.S. efforts to keep coronavirus from spreading on American soil. The Grand Princess cruise ship is expected to dock today in Oakland. At least 21 people aboard have coronavirus -- two crew members and two passengers. Nineteen crew members, I should say, and two passengers. Those numbers could rise after passengers are screened upon docking by the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC.</s>CAPTAIN, GRAND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP: The first group who will be moved will be those who are symptomatic and most in need of medical support. Those in need of hospitalization will be sent to medical facilities around the region.</s>ARCHIE DILL, PASSENGER, GRAND PRINCESS: It's not quite prison but it's a lot like that. I am running out of medicines that I usually take. I feel like the government really didn't have a plan and they're just making this up as they go along.</s>ROMANS: Passengers will receive a full refund but that's hardly the point. The Grand Princess has been in limbo since Wednesday when officials learned a California man, who traveled on that same ship last month, later died of coronavirus. The State Department is now warning Americans against traveling by cruise ship, especially those with underlying medical conditions. There are now 565 cases of coronavirus in 34 states and the District of Columbia. With what's ahead today, CNN's Lucy Kafanov is at the Port of Oakland.</s>LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Laura, good morning. That's right, a lot of mixed feelings on board the Grand Princess cruise ship. On one hand, the ordeal of these passengers is over. They know that the boat will be pulling ashore here at the Port of Oakland in California. On the other hand, another chapter is just about to begin. Everyone is going to be under quarantine for 14 days, it just depends on where. So let me walk you through, sort of, the sequence of events as we know them so far. The seriously ill patients -- those will be evacuated first. They'll be taken to local hospitals in this area. Then begins the disembarkation process for the rest of the passengers -- the American citizens, specifically. Now, the thousand or so California residents, they will be taken to two military bases in the state -- Travis Air Base, up north, and the March Air Base, down near San Diego in Miramar. Both of those bases have been hosting Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China so they're experienced in this. The other U.S. citizens -- U.S. residents -- they'll be taken to either Lackland Air Force Base in Texas or to another military base in Georgia. The big question now, what happens with the hundreds of foreign passengers -- foreign guests on that cruise who are on board. There are 54 countries represented on the cruise ship. We know that the State Department is working out the details with each individual country to see how they can get those residents home. They are looking into chartering flights for these residents. But again, everyone's going to have to be tested and what to do if anyone comes back with a positive test for COVID-19, the coronavirus. And then there's also the matter of the crew. About 1,100 or so crew members on board, they will not be allowed to get off the ship. They will spend their 14 days in quarantine on the Grand Princess -- that ship. As soon as everyone but the crew is off it's going to pull away from the port. The governor of California saying they're taking every step possible to prevent any of these passengers from mixing with the general population. They want to make sure that everyone stays safe. Christine, Laura, back to you.</s>ROMANS: All Lucy, thank you for that. The United States wants confidence the government is in control of the coronavirus situation, but the president's trusted method for winning his battles is being exposed.