I travel for work and traveled to TN this week. Airport didn't look any less busy, but my flight home was pretty empty. Saw only one person wearing a mask in the airport, but what was kinda surprising is that I was still the only person wiping down the seat, armrests, seat belt buckle, tray table and anything else I touch with Lysol wipes.

I did not mean to imply taking eucalyptus oil by mouth, tho U can rinse with a solution orally. That and the bergamot oil are for the humidifier-diffuser only.

Frequent hand washing is very helpful.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I lost $1200 on the market Monday but regained it yesterday.

For the long-term investor, I think EMXC (emerging markets ex-China) is a bargain buy right now. Emerging markets (EEM, VWO, and IEMG. - the major funds) were ALREADY cheap (I own both VWO and EMXC - mainly to moderate the overemphasis of China, often around ~30%, in broad emerging market funds, so a combination of both gives you a more balanced exposure) and with the introduction of the coronavirus, they've become even greater bargains...with potential to drop even MORE if the virus outbreak worsens.

EMXC gives you emerging markets stocks minus China (where the outbreak is centered). It's dropped less than EEM/VWO/IEMG and will likely rebound faster too. Although, the risk at this point is all stocks falling across the globe even more if the virus spreads and damages business conditions even more.

Which means I'd buy even MORE VWO and EMXC.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2020 03:57PM by shoptastic.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

From what I have read, the symptoms are mostly respiratory with fever.

@shoptastic wrote:

Dunno if a sick stomach feeling is part of the symptoms, but I've had a very upset stomach that past couple of days.

I had stomach pain that was hard to distinguish from upper chest pain at times. I honestly think I was food poisoned the past few days.

Canceled my doctor's appointments today because it's flushing through my system.

No fever. No major cough (only slight cough).

Target near me ran out of hand sanitizer a couple of days ago. As a germ phobe, that was disappointing.

eta: That is they ran out of the small travel size ones - big jars available.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2020 04:03PM by shoptastic.

I expect Chinese stocks (and that means VWO) to drop significantly when the Chinese stock markets open after being closed for a week. Because many non-China stocks are in VWO, they will be pulled down by inclusion in the index. Which means that EMXC will trade down. I put in an order to buy EMXC down 10% in pre-market trading on Monday. That probably is more than it will actually drop (I hope for the sake of the economy), but that will keep me on my toes on Monday morning.

@shoptastic wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I lost $1200 on the market Monday but regained it yesterday.

For the long-term investor, I think EMXC (emerging markets ex-China) is a bargain buy right now. Emerging markets (EEM, VWO, and IEMG. - the major funds) were ALREADY cheap (I own both VWO and EMXC - mainly to moderate the overemphasis of China, often around ~30%, in broad emerging market funds, so a combination of both gives you a more balanced exposure) and with the introduction of the coronavirus, they've become even greater bargains...with potential to drop even MORE if the virus outbreak worsens.

EMXC gives you emerging markets stocks minus China (where the outbreak is centered). It's dropped less than EEM/VWO/IEMG and will likely rebound faster too. Although, the risk at this point is all stocks falling across the globe even more if the virus spreads and damages business conditions even more.

Which means I'd buy even MORE VWO and EMXC.

@shoptastic wrote:

For the long-term investor, I think EMXC (emerging markets ex-China) is a bargain buy right now. Emerging markets (EEM, VWO, and IEMG. - the major funds) were ALREADY cheap (I own both VWO and EMXC - mainly to moderate the overemphasis of China, often around ~30%, in broad emerging market funds, so a combination of both gives you a more balanced exposure) and with the introduction of the coronavirus, they've become even greater bargains...with potential to drop even MORE if the virus outbreak worsens.

EMXC gives you emerging markets stocks minus China (where the outbreak is centered). It's dropped less than EEM/VWO/IEMG and will likely rebound faster too. Although, the risk at this point is all stocks falling across the globe even more if the virus spreads and damages business conditions even more.

Which means I'd buy even MORE VWO and EMXC.

Good looking out, as I didn't notice this myself. Will plan to diversify and throw some into these ETF's during this Coronavirus crisis!

I always buy mine at the Dollar Tree. My cabinet under the sink has backup bottles. I have a bottle in my car, a bottle by the kitchen sink, and one in each bathroom.

@shoptastic wrote:

Target near me ran out of hand sanitizer a couple of days ago. As a germ phobe, that was disappointing.
eta: That is they ran out of the small travel size ones - big jars available.

It made my wife paranoid, and she got one of my particle masks from the garage and took it with her to Chinatown.

@AZwolfman wrote:

It made my wife paranoid, and she got one of my particle masks from the garage and took it with her to Chinatown.

Lol those won't help, but if it helped her anxiety! It's like toilet seat covers.

@AZwolfman wrote:

It made my wife paranoid, and she got one of my particle masks from the garage and took it with her to Chinatown.

Might have been smarter to avoid Chinatown right now????

I think he was joking?

I concluded that it was better to allow her the psychological benefit of the particle mask. Convincing her to avoid Chinatown would be harder than getting toothpaste back into the tube. added...Yes, I was joking here

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2020 06:09PM by AZwolfman.

@myst4au wrote:

I expect Chinese stocks (and that means VWO) to drop significantly when the Chinese stock markets open after being closed for a week. Because many non-China stocks are in VWO, they will be pulled down by inclusion in the index. Which means that EMXC will trade down. I put in an order to buy EMXC down 10% in pre-market trading on Monday. That probably is more than it will actually drop (I hope for the sake of the economy), but that will keep me on my toes on Monday morning.

Looks like deaths outside of China are happening now. I also expect both funds to trade down a lot Monday. I think global stocks could all go down for a while. It's hard to tell, of course. Maybe we get a cure and/or this gets contained relatively quickly and businesses aren't hurt too bad. My base case outlook is that we have a period of going lower, so a 10% drop from Friday's prices would not be surprising to me (although, I don't think it'd happen in one day).

Also, I have my eyes glued to Monday's Iowa caucuses. If Bernie Sanders (whose campaign I volunteered for in 2015/2016) wins, then markets could react badly as well. The Hill had an interesting statistic that said in modern times, no candidate who has won both Iowa and New Hampshire (the first two voting states) has not been able to capture the Democratic nomination. It would build a lot of momentum going into Super Tuesday.

Sanders looks like a heavy favorite to win New Hampshire and is in a statistical tie with Biden for Iowa. The recent national polls (Emerson and some other one) have Sanders leading Biden now by one point across the entire U.S.

The reason I started my post off with the word "long-term investor" is that I can certainly see how this thing can wallop emerging market stocks for a while. Should things morph into a worst case scenario, we could end up in a global recession (from both slowing economics and the virus). As someone who is not a trader, but rather a longer term value investor, I would not sell.

There's risk, but I'm personally okay with it. Even if emerging markets fall 25-30%, I could care less. I'd probably just buy more! Due to their already low valuation, they would rebound much faster than, say, very highly valued U.S. stocks (which could take 10 years to rebound if they fell for recessionary type of reasons). I had a long investing post on emerging markets here in case anyone hadn't read it yet and was interested:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com] (thread page)

[www.mysteryshopforum.com] (specific post)

I already thought they were a good investment and are now going to get a bigger discount (albeit, for good reason!) from the coronavirus.

@Tarantado wrote:

Good looking out, as I didn't notice this myself. Will plan to diversify and throw some into these ETF's during this Coronavirus crisis!

Yeah, the main thing to understand is that there is definitely a lot of short-term RISK. These are stocks/funds that could easily go down 10-20% in the short-term for a number of reasons. But, for the long-term, I am committed to emerging markets outperformance (over the next decade) versus U.S. markets.

I think Lyn Alden (to me, the absolute best poster on Seeking Alpha) makes a fantastic case for this that I talked about in the "Millionaire" thread (linked above).

We don't quite yet have "blood in the streets" with the virus, but it could morph into that and present tremendous buying opportunity later.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2020 08:37AM by shoptastic.

The person who died was in the Phillipines and had been in Wuhan. He did not contract the disease in the Phillipines, according to news outlets.

@shoptastic wrote:

Looks like deaths outside of China are happening now.

A shopper buddy canceled all of his shop in or near Chinatown. I don't know if that was because the traffic in that immediate area is terrible or what. I didn't even think about the virus until 2 days later.

Anyone encounter this yet?

"Due to concerns with the Coronavirus, USPS employees may elect to wear facial masks."

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause respiratory illnesses such as the common cold, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most people get infected with coronaviruses at one point in their lives, but symptoms are typically mild to moderate. In some cases, the viruses can cause lower-respiratory tract illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis.

We had a trip planned to Asia, which included Shanghai and Hong Kong. Because I have MS which puts me in a more at risk category (think of any disease where they say the person had "other medical conditions", I contacted my doctor to get a letter excusing me from the trip. Lo and behold, both the airline and the cruise ship cancelled, meaning full refunds! YIPPIE! Doesn't make a difference to me if an epidemic is out, I ALWAYS wipe down my area on plans, wash my hands frequently, try not to touch my face and sanitize my hands after touching public surfaces. I have travel size sanitizers in my car, at my desk, attached to my crutch, and attached to my purse. All that being said, now that April and May have been freed up and I don't have to prepare to go out the country, I'm looking for shops!

Fuel prices continue to drops, a lot.

Yes, it stated to not count them off regarding uniform. Like, who would do that?

@SoCalMama wrote:

Anyone encounter this yet?

"Due to concerns with the Coronavirus, USPS employees may elect to wear facial masks."

My trip to China in March was cancelled.

Not in my area. Wish they were, though.

@walesmaven wrote:

Fuel prices continue to drops, a lot.

So, about those masks. Assuming that they're made in China (because everything is) is it not possible that they have been contaminated by infected factory workers prior to being shipped? I am no scientist so my little brain sees this as a distinct possiblity and, if true, the ultimate irony.

Went from Dubai to SFO on Feb 4th. No issues now 12 days later. I just kept everything clean.

Just bought another 50 shares of Carnival stock. I'm confident it's going to bounce back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2020 08:57PM by iShop123.

Don't know about all of them, but do know a bulk of them are made by 3M plant out west. They just went to 24 hours to keep up the demand for the masks.

@sestrahelena wrote:

So, about those masks. Assuming that they're made in China (because everything is) is it not possible that they have been contaminated by infected factory workers prior to being shipped? I am no scientist so my little brain sees this as a distinct possiblity and, if true, the ultimate irony.

I'd hold off on airline and cruise stocks until at least summer, personally.

@KathyG wrote:

Not in my area. Wish they were, though.

@walesmaven wrote:

Fuel prices continue to drops, a lot.

Me, either. Prices went up FIFTEEN CENTS per gallon last week!! Still just at 2.159, so not bad, but it WAS 1.99!!

$4.30 at my nearest station. $3.59 at Costco