It’s ‘Possible’ Some Democrats May Vote To Acquit Trump: Chris Murphy
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on Saturday that it’s “certainly possible” that some Senate Democrats will vote to acquit President Donald Trump following his impeachment trial, according to Politico.
Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks with President Trump
“I don’t have any reason to think there are Democrats that aren’t with us on procedural votes,” Murphy told reporters, adding “It’s certainly possible there are Democrats that are going to vote no on one of the articles, two of the articles. And I don’t have a sense where everybody is on the articles. We haven’t talked about it.”
“Schumer may know,” added Murphy, “but nobody has done public or private whipping on this.”
Sen. Chris Murphy said Saturday morning that Democrats are likely to be united on a key procedural vote on calling witnesses next week, though he acknowledged that not all 47 Democrats are guaranteed to vote to convict the president.
The Connecticut Democrat said that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other party leaders aren’t whipping senators on the question of the final verdict. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are considered the most likely senators to be mulling possible acquittal votes. –Politico
In December, Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) said that there may be multiple Senate Democrats who may vote to exonerate Trump, telling Politico “I think we might have a couple,” adding “I don’t want to speculate on who — obviously that puts too much pressure on them — but I really think we have people on both sides that are trying to get to a reasonable, nonpartisan answer.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested the same in a December interview with Fox News, saying “It wouldn’t surprise me if we got one or two Democrats. It looks to me over in the House, the Republicans seem to be solid and the Democrats seem to be divided.“
As the numbers of infected and dead soar exponentially this weekend, with the deadly coronavirus spreading to multiple nations and seemingly very much not “contained,” early trading in markets suggest, as Bloomberg macro strategist Mark Cudmore details below, that this ‘black swan’ event is exposing the fragilities, and vulnerability, of financial markets that long ago de-tethered from any fundamental underpinning.
Source: Bloomberg
USDJPY is tumbling in early trading, implying a 400-point drop in Dow futures…
Source: Bloomberg
And Aussie fell to six-week lows.
Markets are driven by narratives, and the virus outbreak that has now spread in four continents is finding investors at a particularly vulnerable time, with valuations in many risk assets arguably stretched and volatility near record lows.
Without speculating how the novel coronavirus situation will evolve from here, it already has enough features to prompt severe risk aversion in the week ahead. It has now spread globally and Chinese authorities said Sunday that the transmission is increasing. With signs that the disease may be infectious long before symptoms show, the situation could deteriorate further in coming days as more cases emerge.
Less than two weeks ago in this column, I argued that only a black swan event would see expensive stock markets correct lower, since there was no obvious negative catalyst on the horizon. This outbreak has the potential to be that kind of event.
The key reason why this catalyst will matter where geopolitical scares such as Middle East conflict or North Korea missile tests do not, is that it’s front and center with the retail investor. Films such as Outbreak and Contagion have shown that fear of a viral outbreak is something that plays deep in the general population. It’s an easily accessible and understandable phobia that can strike closer to home than conflicts playing out far away.
The shutdown of major parts of the Chinese economy — China is already mulling to extend the Lunar New Year holiday to prevent the spread of the virus, while restaurants and other public spaces are closed, transport is blocked, and public events canceled — at a normally prime consumption period will not only hurt domestic growth, but the knock-on impact will be felt globally. After all, China is the growth engine for many economies.
News of the virus’s spread hit as volatility across assets had dipped to fresh lows and with many markets, from equities to credit, trading at historically extreme valuations. Investors have made good money and now have a solid reason to take profit.
Fed quietly pivoting from injecting $1 trillion into the economy in crusade against global warming to injecting $1 trillion into economy in crusade against coronavirus
The game plan for most traders won’t be sophisticated. It doesn’t need to be. It’ll be about cutting back on risk and deleveraging. Previously outperforming assets will now suffer even if the direct economic link isn’t obvious.
The signs of classic risk aversion were already evident in the markets on Friday after more cases were reported in the U.S. Stocks gave in and havens such as Treasuries, gold and the yen are suddenly in position for potential breakouts. Technicals will matter more from here until nuances return in the market. These could be in the form of a potential response from central banks to any signs of faltering economic growth.
EUR/JPY closed below its 4-month trendline on Friday; it’s likely to make fresh 3-month lows below 119.25 within days. Gold had its second-highest close in more than six years; the intraday peak over the same period at $1611.42 is the next level that could be taken out soon. After the 10-year Treasury yield Friday fell to the lowest level since early November, traders will be eyeing last September’s low near 1.40%.
While this may all sound very pessimistic, history has shown that a subsequent market recovery from such events is V-shaped and sudden. How soon that happens though will depend on how long the uncertainty lasts before the outbreak is contained and fears of a global pandemic subside. It’s clear we’re still at least a few days away from that upturn in sentiment, and potentially a few weeks.
Hillary Parrots Soros, Says Facebook ‘Intends To Reelect Trump’
Just 48 hours after left-wing billionaire George Soros accused Facebook of helping to “reelect Trump“ so that “Trump will protect Facebook,” Hillary Clinton parroted the same talking point at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Clinton was in town to promote a four-part viewing of her new Hulu docu-series, “Hillary,” when she told The Atlantic that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is an “authoritarian” who “intend[s] to reelect Trump.”
She described the company’s decision to allow a slowed-down video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to remain on the platform as “Trumpian.”
“I said, ‘Why are you guys keeping this up? This is blatantly false. Your competitors have taken it down. And their response was, ‘We think our users can make up their own minds,'” Clinton told the magazine, adding that Facebook is “not just going to reelect Trump, but intend[s] to reelect Trump.”
“They have, in my view, contorted themselves into making arguments about freedom of speech and censorship,” Clinton alleged, the Atlantic reported, “which they are hanging on to because it’s in their commercial interests.”
“I feel like you’re negotiating with a foreign power sometimes,” Clinton said of her conversations “at the highest levels” of Facebook, adding “This is a global company that has huge influence in ways that we’re only beginning to understand.”
Soros, meanwhile, said at Davos: “Facebook will work to re-elect Trump and Trump will protect Facebook,” adding “It makes me very concerned about the outcome of 2020.”
Facebook responded to the accusation, telling Politico, “This is just plain wrong.”
In other words, Trump can’t win elections because he’s that good — he’s only winning because “Authoritarian” Mark Zuckerberg is allowing gullable Americans to be misled by fake news, or so the narrative goes.
As noted last week, there have only been a few points over the previous 25-years where the market has been so overbought, extended, and bullishly optimistic. To wit:
“This is particularly the case given how extreme positioning by both institutions and individual investors has become. With investor cash and bearish positions, at extreme lows, with prices extremely extended, a reversion to the mean is likely and could lean toward to the 10% range.”
Importantly, this was the repeated message over the last few weeks as the Federal Reserve’s “repo” operations continue to fuel the market’s non-stop advance. As Howard Marks once quipped:
“Being right, but early, is the same as being wrong.”
Clearly, we were early in reducing some of our long-equity exposure in portfolios two weeks ago, but we tend to lean toward the adage; “you never go broke taking profits.” We remain comfortable with our positioning, given the imbalance of risk and reward currently.
Friday, the market had its first real sell-off since early December. As shown in the chart below, the only other times were in early October before the Fed launched its current “Not QE” program. To put this into some context, since 1970, the market has averaged two 1% declines per month or about every 9-trading days. Since October 2nd, 2018, there have been ZERO days consisting of a 1% decline. Assuming historical averages apply, there should have been nine such events of a 1% decline, or more, by now.
While the media was quick to blame the “coronavirus” in China as the cause for concern, the reality is the markets just needed a reason to sell. As shown in the chart below, the market is so extremely extended, the sell-off barely failed to register.
There are two critical points to take away from the chart above:
Notice both the overbought/sold indicator (top) and price momentum (bottom) are pegged at market extremes. The previous peak in both indicators was in January 2018.
More importantly, from the 2016 low to the “blow-off” January 2018 high, the market had a 50% Fibonacci retracement. A similar correction from the December 2018 lows to the recent high would correspond with the January 2018 highs.
In other words, a somewhat typical 15% correction from such an extended, overbought, and bullish position would wipe out 100% of the 2019 gains.
Don’t Fight The Fed
I know, I know.
Such a correction can’t happen because the Fed is expanding its balance sheet. That is true, except the balance sheet expansion is beginning to slow. As recently noted by BMO (courtesy of Zerohedge):
“BMO expects the monthly sizes of $60 billion, or $30 billion post assumed taper, would be composed of both bills and short coupons, ‘helping to reduce expected pressure in the bill market.’”
BMO is correct in its analysis; the Fed will convert its short-term bill purchases into longer-term notes to maintain the balance sheet at a higher level. However, maintaining the size of the balance sheet, and expanding it are two entirely different things. Moreover, the market has already been incorporating this reduction in liquidity in their positioning as noted by sharply falling bond yields.
“Bond prices rallied last week, again, and are testing downtrend resistance. For now bonds remain in a bearish channel, suggesting higher yields (lower prices) are still likely short-term. I suspect we are going to get some economic turmoil sooner, rather than later, which will lead to a correction in the equity markets and an uptick in bond prices.”
As noted above, with stocks extremely extended, all participants needed was an excuse to “sell.” With a “risk-off” event materializing, the rotation from “risk” to “safety” was completed. The sharp push higher in the stock/bond ratio also suggested a correction was forthcoming.
If we are correct, the Fed will begin to taper their purchases and move to stabilize its balance sheet, which will leave the market “starved for liquidity.” If economic and earnings growth remains weak, such will lead to concerns over current valuations, making that 10-15% correction more likely.
While we certainly have no intention of “Fighting the Fed,” do not dismiss changes to the balance sheet given its close correlation to the rise in equity prices as discussed last week. (Note the decline in the balance sheet which foretold of this week’s sell-off)
“On Oct. 11, the central bank announced it would begin purchasing $60 billion of Treasury bills a month to keep control over short-term rates. The magnitude of the purchases resembles the quantitative easing program the Fed conducted during and after the financial crisis.”
“The increase in the Fed’s balance sheet has been in near lockstep with the stock market’s climb. The balance sheet has expanded 10% since October, while the S&P 500 shot up 12%, including notching its best fourth quarter since 2013.” – CNBC
Given the extreme extension of the markets currently, it is quite likely we will see some more corrective action over the next week.
In other words, it may not be the time to “buy the dip,” just yet.
Economic Warnings
There is currently much hope that the economy is about to emerge from its sluggish growth over the past couple of quarters to support lofty earnings expectations and, potentially, a rise in corporate profitability. As noted previously, the last time the S&P 500 was this deviated from a period of “flat” corporate profit growth was from 1995-1999.
There are a few indicators which, by their very nature, should be signaling a surge in economic activity if there was indeed going to be one. Copper, energy prices, commodities in general, and the Baltic Dry index, should all be rising if economic activity is indeed beginning to recover.
Not surprisingly, as the “trade deal” was agreed to, we DID see a pickup in commodity prices, which was reflected in the stronger economic reports as of late. However, while the media is crowing that “reflation is on the horizon,” the commodity complex is suggesting that whatever bump there was from the “trade deal,” is now over.
If economic data doesn’t significantly improve, the risk to further corporate profit weakness is of concern. It also puts extremely optimistic projections for S&P earnings through 2020 and 2021 at risk. (Estimates for 2020 have already collapsed, and 2021 is lower than initial 2020 estimates.)
Pay attention to the amount of risk in your portfolio. It will matter more than you think and always at the worst possible time.
While that is hard to believe, just remember its happened twice before.
Today marks the start of National School Choice Week, an annual event designed to “raise public awareness of the different K-12 education options available to children and families while also spotlighting the benefits of school choice.” The organizers promote all forms of school choice, from publicly funded charter schools to tuition tax credits to educational savings accounts (ESAs) to private-scholarship programs to homeschooling and beyond. National School Choice Week first launched in 2011 and this year, parents, student, educators, and activists will host over 51,000 events nationwide. Go here to find events in your area and go here for past Reason coverage.
If one figure embodies the moral case for giving parents and students greater ability to select their preferred form of K-12 education, it’s Virginia Walden Ford, whose story is told in last year’s Miss Virginia. Growing up in Arkansas, she was among the first wave of African Americans who integrated public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As a single parent in Washington, D.C., she organized parents in the early 2000s and fought to create the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally-funded private school voucher program has allowed thousands of poor kids—including her son—to escape failing public schools.
Miss Virginia tells that story, as does her memoir, also released last fall. Here message is both political and personal, understated and powerful as the loudest protest chant: Trust parents to do what is right and give them the means to find schools that fit the unique needs of each child.
Here’s the interview I did with her last fall, in which she talks about the grim intersection of race and education policy in the United States, what it’s like to have a cross burnt in your front yard, why she thinks school choice should be a non-partisan issue, the mixed-blessing of having Donald Trump being the best president to date on school choice, and her disappointment at the hostility toward school choice evinced by the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
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via IFTTT
Today marks the start of National School Choice Week, an annual event designed to “raise public awareness of the different K-12 education options available to children and families while also spotlighting the benefits of school choice.” The organizers promote all forms of school choice, from publicly funded charter schools to tuition tax credits to educational savings accounts (ESAs) to private-scholarship programs to homeschooling and beyond. National School Choice Week first launched in 2011 and this year, parents, student, educators, and activists will host over 51,000 events nationwide. Go here to find events in your area and go here for past Reason coverage.
If one figure embodies the moral case for giving parents and students greater ability to select their preferred form of K-12 education, it’s Virginia Walden Ford, whose story is told in last year’s Miss Virginia. Growing up in Arkansas, she was among the first wave of African Americans who integrated public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As a single parent in Washington, D.C., she organized parents in the early 2000s and fought to create the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally-funded private school voucher program has allowed thousands of poor kids—including her son—to escape failing public schools.
Miss Virginia tells that story, as does her memoir, also released last fall. Here message is both political and personal, understated and powerful as the loudest protest chant: Trust parents to do what is right and give them the means to find schools that fit the unique needs of each child.
Here’s the interview I did with her last fall, in which she talks about the grim intersection of race and education policy in the United States, what it’s like to have a cross burnt in your front yard, why she thinks school choice should be a non-partisan issue, the mixed-blessing of having Donald Trump being the best president to date on school choice, and her disappointment at the hostility toward school choice evinced by the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/2TXkbCk
via IFTTT
Tether is now supporting a gold-backed stablecoin, Tether Gold (XAU₮), according to a Jan. 23 press release. One token represents ownership of one troy fine ounce of physical gold, currently worth approximately $1,550.
The new product is available as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as a TRC20 token on Tron (TRX).
The funds are said to be backed by physical gold held in a “Switzerland vault,” the press release reads. According to Tether, its gold offering is the only product among its competition that does not charge custody fees.
Tether has also invited all exchanges wishing to support the new token to contact the company. Blockchain information for the Ethereum contract shows that there is currently an outstanding supply of almost 4,000 tokens, which would be equivalent to a $6.2 million market capitalization.
Bitfinex has already launched XAUT trading, with one quarter of the ERC-20 supply having been moved to Bitfinex. As a closely-affiliated company to Tether, it was expected for Bitfinex to be the first to offer the new token.
Plans for commodity-backed Tethers were in full swing since at least September 2019.
Tether has often been criticized for its opaque reserve management, with one high-profile class action lawsuit alleging that the company used this to manipulate the market in 2017.
In addition, Bitfinex reportedly used Tether reserves to cover a liquidity shortfall following issues with its payment provider, Crypto Capital Corp.
Mexican Military Stops Migrant Caravan In Its Tracks
A caravan of Central American migrants was stopped in its tracks last week by the Mexican National Guard, which arrested migrants as they crossed the river at the border town of Tecun Uman and hauled them off to a detention center in the nearby city of Tapachula.
“I can see that these caravans are no longer going to pass,” said 56-year-old Mexican street merchant Miguel Ángel Vázquez, who has seen throngs of migrants stream past his front door while making the northbound journey to the United States southern border.
On Thursday, migrants and Mexican national guard troops faced off on a rural highway in the far-southern Mexican city of Frontera Hidalgo – across from the river border between Mexico and Guatemala that hundreds of mostly-Honduran migrants crossed before dawn.
After walking for hours before stopping at the crossroads where Vázquez’s food stand lies, hundreds of national guard troops advanced their lines to within 100 yards of the migrants. Following a brief negotiation, members of the caravan knelt to the ground, chanting “we want to pass.”
The national guardsmen instead advanced on the group, banging their plastic shields with batons as they shoved and pepper sprayed the migrants in a massive round-up. In total, around 800 migrants were detained.
This morning when Mexican officials closed the Tecun Uman entry so that caravanerxs could not enter Mexico. pic.twitter.com/jWuJYrjC05
On Friday, just six or so national guard troops stood watch as things returned to normal. Locals reported that the disruption made crossing the river as part of their daily routine “tough.” The international bridge between the countries reopened at 5 a.m. on Friday, allowing cars and motorcycles to cross freely.
Across the river in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, a field where migrants had stationed for several days before crossing into Mexico Thursday at dawn, was empty and cordoned off with yellow tape.
Neighbor Luis Cáceres, 60, said some of the migrants had been camping in his yard.
He said he too is struggling to get enough work as a laborer, and he empathizes with their decisions to flee poverty and violence.
Cáceres too tried once to emigrate to the United States but only made it as far as Arriaga before turning back, frightened after spending nights sleeping outdoors among snakes and scorpions.
While Mexico had long-ignored migrant caravans heading towards the United States, pressure from President Trump – which included threats of tariffs, resulted in President Andrés Manuel López Obrador cracking down on the migrant groups.
“I have information that the National Guard has acted well,” said Obrador on Friday following a briefing by Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. “He told us there had not been injured, had not been wounded, that the problem has been resolved well.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) defended her plan to pay off college loans after being confronted by a father in Iowa in an exchange that went viral.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is confronted by a father who worked double shifts to pay for his daughters education and wants to know if he will get his money back. pic.twitter.com/t2GGbAnG08
The father approached Warren, a leading Democratic presidential contender, after a campaign event in Grimes.
“My daughter’s getting out of school, I saved all my money, so she doesn’t have any student debt. Am I going to get my money back?” the man asked Warren.
“Of course not,” Warren replied.
“So, we end up paying for people who didn’t save any money, then those who did the right thing get screwed,” the father told her.
He then described a friend who makes more money but didn’t save up while he worked double shifts to save up to pay for his daughter’s college.
The father became upset, accusing Warren of laughing.
“We did the right thing and we get screwed,” he added before walking off.
In an appearance on “CBS This Morning” on Friday, Warren was asked about the exchange.
Last night, a father who saved for his daughter’s college education approached @SenWarren and challenged her proposed student loan forgiveness plan.@TonyDokoupil asks the senator for her response: pic.twitter.com/jLUXPqChC6
“Look, we build a future going forward by making it better. By that same logic what would we have done? Not started Social Security because we didn’t start it last week for you or last month for you,” Warren said.
Pressed on whether she was saying “tough luck” to people like the father, she said “No.” She then recounted how she got to go to college despite coming from a poor family.
“There was a $50 a semester option for me. I was able to go to college and become a public school teacher because America had invested in a $50 a semester option for me. Today that’s not available,” she said.
“We don’t build an America by saddling our kids with debt. We build an America by saying we’re going to open up those opportunities for kids to be able to get an education without getting crushed by student loan debt.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) campaigns in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 19, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
One of Warren’s plans is to cancel student loans. According to her website, on her first day as president she would cancel student loan debt as well as give free tuition to public colleges and technical schools and ban for-profit colleges from getting aid from the federal government.
“I’ll direct the Secretary of Education to use their authority to begin to compromise and modify federal student loans consistent with my plan to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for 95% of student loan borrowers (about 42 million people),” Warren wrote.
“I’ll also direct the Secretary of Education to use every existing authority available to rein in the for-profit college industry, crack down on predatory student lending, and combat the racial disparities in our higher education system.”
Sounds an awful lot like the dad above is right those that did the “right thing” are gonna get “screwed.”
5 Million Potential Carriers Have Left Wuhan As Coronavirus Appears To Mutate Into “More Transmissable” Form
Over the weekend, there were numerous media reports published in hopes of easing fears that the coronavirus spread was uncontained, and informing the general public just how seriously China takes its quarantine of no less than 17 cities and roughly 60 million people. Take this report from AFP, according to which Police at a roadblock on the outskirts of Wuhan turned away cars trying to leave the virus-stricken epicenter on Saturday, as other anxious residents trapped inside spent the Lunar New Year stocking up on masks and medical supplies.
“Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others” AFP writes adding that its reporters saw “a steady trickle of cars approaching the roadblocks around 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the city centre on Saturday morning, only for police in fluorescent jackets wearing masks to tell them to turn around.”
The barricade, at one of the tolls for highways exiting the city, was blocked with red and yellow plastic barriers and cones.
“Nobody can leave,” a policeman told AFP.
Yet, but… there is just one problem: the much needed quarantine and lockdown were far too late, because as Wuhan’s mayor Zhou Xianwang revealed on Sunday during a press conference, about 5 million residents had already left Wuhan before the lockdown because of the deadly coronavirus epidemic and the Spring Festival holiday. As the SCMP reports, many of Wuhan’s residents had already left the city for the holiday, while others rushed out after the lockdown was announced on Wednesday night.
As a result, only 9 million people were remaining in the city after the lockdown, with roughly a third of it, including countless cases of coronavirus, having already spread across China.
Due to the Chinese Lunar New Year and the #WuhanCoronavirus, more than 5 million people left Wuhan and 9 million people remain in the city which is under lockdown: Wuhan mayor pic.twitter.com/hi2NwsHmou
Meanwhile, in Chinese health officials warned the virus’ ability to spread was getting stronger, and in the worst possible news for China, Ma Xiaowei, the minister in charge of China’s National Health Commission (NHC), told a press conference that battling the outbreak had become especially complicated, after it was discovered that the new virus could be transmitted even during incubation period, which did not happen with Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
In other words, as many as tens if not hundreds of thousands of Coronavirus carriers quietly fled, and may have infected as many as 3-4 other people each, depending on the R0 of the virus.
“From observations, the virus is capable of transmission even during incubation period,” Ma said, adding that the incubation period lasted from one to 14 days. “Some patients have normal temperatures and there are many milder cases. There are hidden carriers,” he said.
As for the piece de resistance, Ma said also that the virus had adapted to humans and appeared to have become more transmissible: “There are signs showing the virus is becoming more transmissible. These walking ‘contagious agents’ [hidden carriers] make controlling the outbreak a lot more difficult.”
Even China’s authorities sounds like they are giving up: Li Bin, deputy minister of the NHC said the authorities that the severe measures they had taken to control the spread of the virus – such as issuing travel bans and locking down cities – would at least delay the peak and “buy time to combat the next stage of the outbreak”, according to SCMP.
Yes, China is already bracing for “the next stage of the outbreak.”
To help tackle the epidemic, which has closed off 17 cities, Ma said that 2,360 military and civilian doctors and nurses had been sent to Wuhan, the city in which the outbreak was first detected at the end of last month. As the pressure has mounted on the city’s hospitals, the medical system has moved ever closer to collapse.
Many people who developed feverish symptoms were turned away by hospitals earlier in the week because there were not enough beds, local residents said earlier. Medical practitioners are also running seriously short of protective kits and are being forced to recycle goggles and masks. Ma said 2,400 hospital beds had been added in Wuhan, and the government was planning to add 5,000 more over the next three days.
Wang Jiangping, China’s vice-minister of industry and information technology, said China had the capacity to produce a maximum of 30,000 protective outfits per day, but that was less than a third of what was needed in Hubei.
Meanwhile, the hunt for the real source of the pandemic continues. China imposed a nationwide ban on wildlife trade on Sunday, as the outbreak was originally suspecteded to have originated at a seafood market in Wuhan, which also sold wild animals. However, a research paper published by medical journal The Lancet on Saturday said the first confirmed case of the viral infection was a person who had not been to that market.
