Moller Maersk, Air France brace for China virus hit

The world’s largest shipping company, Denmark’s A.P. Moller Maersk, said Thursday it expects a weak start to the year due to the new coronavirus that emerged in China's Wuhan.

Air France, meanwhile, said that the coronavirus could mean a hit of up to 200 million euros, or US$220 million, for its operating results from February to April.

Procter & Gamble’s chief financial officer told analysts that traffic at stores in China, its second-largest market, is down considerably, though it held firm on its forecast ranges for sales and profit this year.

The worries overshadowed another set of encouraging data on the U.S. economy. A survey of manufacturers in the mid-Atlantic region jumped to its highest level since February 2017, and a separate report showed leading economic indicators in the United States rose more in January than economists forecast. The number of workers applying for jobless claims rose a touch, but it still remains low.-AP