With news of a potentially homegrown case of coronavirus, U.S. markets nosedived into correction territory. Wall Street is slashing forecasts while travel fears have airlines taking it in the teeth. President Donald Trump first urged Americans to shrug off the threat of pandemic, then scrambled to find funds for a federal response, having previously hobbled structures put in place by the Obama administration. Some of the money Trump is seeking may come from funds meant for poor Americans in need of heating assistance. States and cities have been making plans of their own, declaring emergencies and stockpiling supplies for the North American outbreak experts say is all but inevitable. —David E. Rovella

Here are today’s top stories

The spreading pathogen may have simply forced a market selloff that was long overdue, Chris Hughes writes in Bloomberg Opinion.

There is no vaccine for the new virus, so medical professionals are advising other strategies to decrease the risk of sickness.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has the lead in the run up to Saturday’s South Carolina primary. Across the country, Democratic Party officials are reportedly strategizing about how they can deny national frontrunner Senator Bernie Sanders the nomination regardless of whether he wins the most delegates.

Sanders has been assailed for the fuzzy math around his multitrillion-dollar plans for government programs. But bond investors and economists say it may not matter if his numbers don’t add up: It’s never been cheaper for the U.S. government to borrow money.

Turkey staged a comeback from its recession with a mix of interest-rate cuts and spending that offered a quick cure for an economy scarred by a 2018 currency crash.

A Saudi pediatrician may be one of the world’s wealthiest doctors, to the tune of $2.3 billion, after the IPO pricing of his medical-services group.

What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director contends there’s an ongoing debate about whether the economic impact of the coronavirus will be deflationary or inflationary. For now, financial markets are mostly concerned with the former, Joe says. On the latest episode of Odd Lots, Dan Wang, an analyst at GaveKal Dragonomics, discusses the impact of the virus on China’s tech manufacturing industry.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

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What you’ll want to read tonight

Why Richard Branson’s Fortune Is Shrinking

The value of the British billionaire’s stake in Virgin Galactic has fallen by about $1.1 billion since the company reported widening losses. While Branson isn’t the only billionaire betting on space (think Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos), Virgin Galactic was the first to become a public company.

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