[Julia Chatterley, Cnn International Anchor:] Live from the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE, and here's your need to know. Volatility rains. U.S. stocks fall as the CDC warns the United States needs to prepare for coronavirus. Helicopter money. The Hong Kong government announces a raft of measures including cash giveaways to support the economy. And a fairy tale farewell. Disney's Bob Iger steps down, Bob Chapek steps up. It's Wednesday. Let's make a move. A warm welcome once again to FIRST MOVE on another day of fast developments in the global coronavirus crisis. And of course, some developments in stock markets, too. Pressure, volatility on global markets. Let me bring you up to speed with what we're seeing at this moment. I can tell you, U.S. futures are now solidly higher. They flipped from being deeply negative just a couple of hours ago. This kind of pattern and sentiment isn't so surprising after one of the worst two-day drops on Wall Street in years. The Dow and the S&P have both fallen some three percent in each of the past two trading sessions. It was all not helped by a warning from the CDC here in the United States yesterday saying that coronavirus will likely come to the U.S. and authorities like schools need to be thinking about how they prepare. The result, all three major markets close to falling some 10 percent from their most recent highs. That's the classic definition that we use for a correction. Beneath the surface, some 64 percent of S&P 500 stocks are already in correction territory including firms like Apple and MasterCard. Both have warned about the coronavirus risks just in the past week. We also saw pressure, too on Asian stocks. The Shanghai Composite you can see there falling some 0.8 percent, but I will tell you what we're seeing in the European session has been equities trying to claw their way back from earlier losses. They are in the red at the moment, but just tilted as you can see to the downside. It's not just stocks though, the selloff in oil continues, too. Brent crude falling through $55.00 a barrel. U.S. crude below $50.00, too. Bond yields, however, firming up slightly here after falling to record lows yesterday. Yields dropping of course as investors bet on fresh stimulus. We're talking fresh rate cuts here from the Federal Reserve. The bottom line here is, guys, uncertainty is what's driving these markets. Let's get to the drivers because I do want to bring you up to speed with what was saying. With regards to coronavirus outbreak. President Trump has announced a press conference later today on the coronavirus outbreak, this of course as global health authorities scramble to contain the outbreaks outside of China. In South Korea, the number of people infected with coronavirus continues to soar, 12 people now officially confirmed dead. A U.S. soldier stationed in the country has also tested positive. Iran, meanwhile, the worst nation hit in the Middle East, 19 deaths have now been reported there and there is concern that thousands of cases may have gone undetected. Meanwhile, in Europe, they are working to contain the outbreak in Italy, too. Twelve deaths have been reported there. France also reporting its first fatality just a short while ago. Not wanting to detract from that crisis, and of course, the humanitarian impact that it's had, but the uncertainty has at the same time wiped $3.3 trillion in value from global markets. Clare Sebastian joins us on this. Clare, again, I want to reiterate, we don't want to take away from the humanitarian impact that this crisis is having. But at the same time, I think investors trying to gauge what the economic impact is going to be and it's tough to gauge how you reflect that risk in terms of the level here for markets not just in the United States, of course, but globally.
[Clare Sebastian, Cnn Business Correspondent:] Yes, Julia, I think it's interesting because in actual fact if you look at the headlines that we've had overnight, things have got worse in terms of the spread of this virus. But we're seeing a bit of a bounce in the premarket action this morning on the markets. And that really suggests that despite these negative headlines, despite the fact that the virus continues to spread, despite the warnings in the U.S. from the Centers for Disease Control, there are those out there who still believe this will be a V-shaped recovery that some of the demand lost will be recaptured. But in terms of how you assess the risk here, I think it's critical to look at what some of the companies are saying because it's very clear now that this has been going on for long enough that wait and see just isn't good enough for some companies. The airlines, a critical case in point here. We've heard this morning from Lufthansa and Air France KLM, both of them are actually Air France KLM stock is now up today, but both of them are aggressively cost cutting in the face of this. Lufthansa saying that it's reassessing new hires. It's offering employees unpaid leave, cutting budgets in administrative areas. Air France KLM saying that impact on revenues will be very significant and it is urging people to only do must do expenditure. That was a letter from the CFO this morning. So companies are increasingly concerned. But I think the markets sort of after the last two days of losses are approaching a technical level where people are thinking we might see a little bit of a bounce, but perhaps not the end of the volatility around this.
[Chatterley:] Yes, you raise a great point. We've moved a long way to the downside in just a very short space of time. So consolidation perhaps makes sense at this stage. It's tough to gauge the part where we say where next. I think that messaging here is also very important. I mentioned the CDC, the Center for Disease Control, saying look, in the United States, schools and businesses need to be thinking about seeing greater clusters of coronavirus in this country and need to prepare, at the same time, the message from the White House has been, look, this is under control. Even Larry Kudlow coming out yesterday and saying investors should be buying the dips here. We don't want to incite panic. These are relatively small numbers at this stage. But the uncertainty is great. The mixed messaging isn't helping.
[Sebastian:] And I think equally unhelpful, Julia is, you know, we've got reporting from our White House team that this is an example of what we've seen repeatedly from the President. That is sort of a feedback loop with the markets. He is playing this down, because he is worried about the market falls based on that rather than facts around the virus itself. And that sort of sets up the view that the administration might be unprepared and further sort of, you know, exacerbates the confusion around this given the warnings that we're getting from the CDC And the fact remains that you know, you talk to a lot of market experts you have on the show. I've spoken to some who say this isn't just about the coronavirus. They could have been anything. The market was so over bought. It was so complacent around this. Don't forget, it was just one week ago today that the S&P 500 hit a record high. This was a very frothy market. So I think it was very vulnerable to any kind of shock. It just so happened that it was this virus, but obviously the calculus changes as we start to see economic growth really tank around the world.
[Chatterley:] It's exactly what Peter Oppenheimer was saying to us yesterday, just taking some of the complacency out of these markets is healthy at this stage, the tragedy of coronavirus aside. Clare Sebastian, great context. Thank you so much. Now, one place where they're not hanging around to take action is Hong Kong. The authorities there announcing a raft of stimulus measures to the tune of some $15 billion in fact, including cash giveaways. Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong and joins us on this. Kristie, great to have you with us as always. What's the reception been? You can talk us through some of these measures. But what's the reception been to, to the announcements today?
[Kristie Lu Stout, Cnn International Correspondent:] Yes, the big cash handouts that you mentioned, Julia, that may have lifted some spirits but it failed to lift the markets during this very difficult time for Hong Kong. This major global financial city has been struggling through those anti- government protests, the trade war, now, the outbreak. So earlier today, the Hong Kong government announced this dramatic economic relief package worse than $15.4 billion. The Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan says that this relief will go towards low income households, hospitals, as well as training in healthcare. Now, he also announced that big cash handout, every Hong Kong permanent resident above the age of 18 will receive 10,000 Hong Kong dollars or nearly $1,300.00 in cash as a bid to help stir local consumption and spending. Now, the virus here has caused widespread fear, also spurring the panic buying of items like facemasks, food and even necessities like toilet paper. There are now as of this hour 89 confirmed deaths sorry, confirmed cases and two deaths here in Hong Kong. Schools have been closed for over a month now. They will not reopen until April the 20th at the earliest. We know that residents are hunkering down. They're staying away from shopping centers, staying away from restaurants. And with that fall in consumption along with tourism, the Hong Kong economy as you can imagine, is getting hammered Julia.
[Chatterley:] Yes, the problem with giving cash is it to be able to even spend it, where vouchers have been better, but we'll see how it plays out. Kristie, great to have you with us. Kristie Lu Stout there. All right, let's move on to our next driver. The stakes couldn't be higher in the race for the White House. Voters in South Carolina will choose their democratic candidate for President this Saturday, then it's Super Tuesday next week when 14 states will vote. Frontrunner Bernie Sanders had a bull's eye on his back. He took the brunt of the attacks from Democratic rivals in Tuesday night's debate.
[Pete Buttigieg , Presidential Candidate:] If you think the last four years has been chaotic, divisive, toxic, exhausting, imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump.
[Tom Steyer , Presidential Candidate:] I am scared. If we cannot pull this party together, if we go to one of those extremes, we take a terrible risk of reelecting Donald Trump.
[Sen. Amy Klobuchar , Presidential Candidate:] If we spend the next four months, tearing our party apart, we're going to watch Donald Trump spend the next four years tearing our country apart.
[Chatterley:] CNN's Jessica Dean joins us now. I have to say that was some of the less shouty moments where they were all talking over each other and at each other rather than seemingly at the voters, Jessica, but what are your highlights here? And who do you think came out on top, most importantly?
[Jessica Dean, Cnn Washington Correspondent:] Yes, I think, Julia, you make a very good point, which is, the takeaway from this was there was just there was a lot of yelling, there was a lot of the circular firing squad, a lot of talking over each other. Look, it is South Carolina, the last of the early states, a lot on the line for these candidates as we head into Saturday's primary here. And then of course, Super Tuesday, where a number of states are going to vote with a lot of delegates up for grabs. And this was really the last chance for them to all be on that stage together before those two things happen and really draw those contrasts out. So for Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner, the challenge was to make sure he could handle all the incoming. And the question was, how could he do that? You saw him get agitated at times, but other times you saw him really reiterate his points. He is very consistent on his message and is always able to come back to those talking points that he has. The challenge for everybody else was to see if they could stop or even slow Bernie Sanders' momentum. And you saw Joe Biden have really a stronger debate performance than we have seen in the past. He is the favorite here in South Carolina, although polls have shown Bernie Sanders creeping up on him now within striking distance here in South Carolina. But this has been Joe Biden's to lose South Carolina. This has been his firewall. So he is under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform here and to perform well. And so Julia, for last night that was what he was hoping to do. Does any of it move the needle? Does any of it matter? We're going to find out on Saturday and then into next Tuesday Julia.
[Chatterley:] Yes, palpable sense of emergency, I think from all of the players here, the candidates. Jessica Dean, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that. All right, the biggest prize from the Magical Kingdom, Bob Iger stepping down as the Disney CEO. The head of the theme parks now is going to be taking the reins, Bob Chapek. Frank Pallotta joins us now. Frank, I have to say this was the most delayed departure in the history of U.S. companies it seems, and yet even with that, yesterday felt like a surprise. Do you agree with that? And what do we know about the man who is set to take over?
[Frank Pallotta, Cnn Media Reporter:] Yes, it was a complete surprise, but it shouldn't be because Iger has tried to retired multiple times over the last couple of years, and he hasn't been able to stick the exit. This looks like he is actually on his way out. But at the same time, he is not really going anywhere yet. He's going to stay on as an Executive President, as you said, and focus on the creative side of the company. What does that mean? Well, it means that Bob Chapek who used to run the parks and resorts unit, it's kind of like the business side of the company and Iger is going to focus more on the creative side of the company and this can kind of work for Disney more so than other companies, because it kind of harkens back to their early history when Roy Disney and Walt Disney, the brothers were the business and creative side of the founding of Disney itself.
[Chatterley:] So in terms of reporting lines, to your point then actually, Bob Chapek is still going to be reporting into Bob Iger. Bob Iger is still going to be Executive Chairman until 2021, and given the business that's been built here in the sort of three-pronged approach that they're doing, particularly with things like Disney Plus, not that much is going to change surely, at least in the short term, in terms of the direction of this business.
[Pallotta:] I don't see much changing. Even the name of the new CEO is not changing. It's still another Bob. Like it seems like a huge, huge story.
[Chatterley:] Continuity.
[Pallotta:] Yes, it seems like a huge, huge story, but in reality, it's kind of just, you know, Iger saying I'm ready to go at the end of 2021, and here is who is going to basically run this company in my stead. It's a classic Disney story. It seems really, really big, but when you kind of dig into it, it seems like nothing has really changed at all, but it makes sense for Iger. It just seems really big because look at that screen right there, all of the things that Iger has done, he's one of the most important people in the history of the Disney Company behind probably only Walt himself. There would be no time where he would leave where it would not be surprising.
[Chatterley:] There's that song from "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," bobbing along, bopping along, in terms of approach
[Pallotta:] Not exactly the same, but hey, I liked it.
[Chatterley:] There we go. Frank Pallotta, thank you so much for that. Quickly moving on, let me bring you up to speed with some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appealing for calm after days of clashes over a controversial citizenship law. At least 24 people including a police officer have been killed in rioting between supporters and opponents of the law. The act fast tracks citizens from non-Muslim asylum seekers from three neighboring countries. Egypt meanwhile is observing three days of mourning for former President Hosni Mubarak, a military funeral was held in Cairo a day after Mubarak died at the age of 91. He ruled Egypt for nearly three decades only to be forced to resign admit the Arab Spring protests in 2011. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on FIRST MOVE. Of course, we are going to be watching for the market open. We are counting down expected to see gains, but as we mentioned, volatility remains the name of the game here. We've got that covered for you. And of course, as you were hearing there, the end of a favorite tale, Bob Iger handing over the keys to the Magical Kingdom, but is it infinity and beyond for the new Disney CEO? And watch this space. Losses for Virgin Galactic even as Wall Street predicts a stellar future. Stay with CNN. More to come.