Coronavirus live updates: American cancels more Hong Kong flights, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal take a hit

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Cosmetics companies Estee Lauder and L’Oreal said they’ve taken financial hits because of the outbreak. Estee Lauder lowered its profit outlook fiscal 2020 from between $5.85 and $5.93 per share to between $5.60 and $5.70 per share, citing reduced travel and sales in important tourist and shopping areas. L’Oreal said the outbreak has temporarily hurt sales in Asian airports.The companies have previously seen sales thrive in China as wealthy customers purchase luxury products at beauty stores and duty-free shops. — Miller

Global stocks will likely continue to rally as people realize the outbreak is not likely to cause long-term effects on the markets, said Derek Scissors, China Beige Book’s chief economist. “This isn’t a natural disaster that destroys capital stock,” he said on “As long as people recover fully, it’s not going to affect productivity.” China is facing a short-term GDP drag, and companies with international stakes will face some earnings hits, but long-term growth should stay stable, added Scissors, whose China Beige Book firm is an independent provider of Chinese economic data.

American Airlines is extending extend cancellations of its Hong Kong flights from Los Angeles through March 27, citing weak demand. Earlier this week, the airline said it would suspend those flights through Feb. 20. However, American said it would resume its Hong Kong service from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub on Feb. 21. “We will continue to review our flight schedule to ensure we can accommodate the needs of our customers and will make additional refinements as needed,” American said in a statement. American, Delta and United have all canceled their China service over the past week as coronavirus spreads, while more than a dozen other airlines have either halted or scaled back China service. — Josephs

WHO officials mourned the loss of Dr. Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who first sounded the alarm on the coronavirus. The ophthalmologist reportedly warned fellow medical staff of a virus he thought looked like SARS on Dec. 30, sending a message to a chat group warning them to wear protective gear after noticing several cases. He later posted on social media that local police tried silencing him. He was diagnosed with the new coronavirus on Jan. 30 and died Thursday, according to the Washington Post. Dr. Mike Ryan, who runs WHO’s emergency programs, said “we should celebrate his life and mourn his death.” He added: “We’re very sorry to hear of the loss of any frontline worker whose attempted to care for patients. We ourselves have lost our friends in the frontlines.”

The World Health Organization is inviting scientists from across the globe for a two-day international research forum next Tuesday and Wednesday. “There’s still a lot we don’t know. We don’t know the source of the outbreak. We don’t know what its natural reservoir is and we don’t properly understand its transmissibility or severity,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporter. There’s no vaccine or effective treatments against it, he said. “To put it bluntly, we’re shadow boxing. We need to bring this virus out into the light so we can attack it properly.” The WHO is convening a global research and innovation forum to share research and ideas on how to combat the virus, he said.

The World Health Organization is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. ET to update the public on the outbreak. At Wednesday’s press briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of confirmed cases grew by more than 3,100 over the previous 24 hours, which he said was “the most cases in a single day since the outbreak started” on Dec. 31. “Our greatest concern is about the potential for spread in other countries with weaker health systems and who lack the capacity to detect and diagnose the virus,” he said. Watch Thursday’s live press conference here. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration doesn’t think the outbreak will keep China from meeting its commitment to buy $200 billion in U.S.goods through 2021 as part of President Donald Trump’s “phase one” trade deal. That total includes more than $75 billion in additional goods and services in 2020. “Based on our current projections of the virus, we’re not worried about that,” Mnuchin said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. “But let me again say we are monitoring the virus carefully. We’ll have a much better idea over the next two weeks. I think we are going to get more comfortable. But based on current information, I don’t expect there will be any issues in them fulfilling their commitments. — Higgins

Yum Brands, owner of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, warned investors that its 2020 results will likely fall below its long-term outlook, hit in part by the virus outbreak and its potential spread to other Asian markets. China is the largest market for KFC and the second largest for Pizza Hut. “While Yum’s business model is highly diversified such that the impact on our financial performance will not be as significant what many companies will experience, this will certainly be a headwind for 2020,” CEO David Gibbs said. Yum were down 3.1% in early trading Thursday after after Gibbs’ comments — Lucas

Kate Spade and Coach owner Tapestry said the majority of its shops in mainland China are closed because of the outbreak. Tapestry said it is expecting sales during the second half of this year to be $200 million to $250 million lower due to the closures. It said its profits could be reduced by 35 cents to 45 cents per share. If the outbreak spreads, Tapestry said the financial impact could become worse. “The escalating coronavirus outbreak is now significantly impacting our business in China, resulting in the closure of the majority of our stores on the Mainland,” CEO Jide Zeitlin said. “If the situation further deteriorates, or the outbreak affects demand outside of the country, this impact could be worse.” — Thomas

Toyota Motor is looking at alternatives for the production of auto parts made in China because of the coronavirus. The company has halted production at its China plants through Sunday, but may extend the deadline if the situation worsens. Toyota lifted its annual operating profit forecast by 4.2% because of strong currency rates for the Japanese yen and better-than-expected sales. However, the company has not yet factored in the financial impact of the coronavirus, which it said was hard to gauge. — Miller

Russia is thought to be standing in the way of further OPEC-led production cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed cartel delegates. The Saudi-led producer group has been unable to reach a consensus over its response to China’s coronavirus outbreak. It comes after delegates representing OPEC and allies, sometimes referred to as OPEC+, met for three days to debate whether further output cuts would be necessary to offset falling demand for crude. Earlier in the day, an OPEC technical panel recommended a provisional cut of 600,000 barrels per day, Reuters reported, citing two sources. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $55.07 on Thursday, down around 0.4%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate stood at $50.85, around 0.2% higher.

The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have set up a task force in an attempt to counter intensifying fears about the coronavirus outbreak. Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto he will run the newly created Novel Coronavirus Countermeasures Task Force, Reuters reported. The group held its first meeting on Tuesday, Muto told reporters, and a second briefing could take place as soon as Friday. The Olympic Games are set to take place from July 24 to Aug. 9, with the Paralympic Games scheduled to run from Aug. 25 to Sept. 6.

The U.S. pushed for the World Health Organization to “engage directly” with Taiwan in the fight against the coronavirus, prompting a swift rebuke from Beijing’s ambassador to the United Nations health agency. Andrew Bremberg, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said it is a “technical imperative that WHO present visible public health data on Taiwan as an affected area and engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities on actions,” Reuters reported. In response, China’s delegation expressed “strong dissatisfaction” that some countries had raised the issue of Taiwan’s participation at WHO. Taiwan is not a member of the WHO due to China’s objections. Beijing considers self-governing Taiwan a wayward province to be brought under its control. Separately, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Joanne Ou, slammed China and the WHO for providing inaccurate information about the number of coronavirus cases in Taiwan. The WHO reported Tuesday that the island had 13 cases, when there were only 10 at that time.

Read CNBC’s coverage from our Asia-Pacific and Europe teams overnight: US and China clash at WHO over Taiwan’s participation, death toll tops 500

— Reuters and CNBC’s Leslie Josephs, Tucker Higgins, Amelia Lucas, Lauren Thomas, Hannah Miller, Saheli Roy Choudhury, Lora Kolodny and Sam Meredith contributed to this report.