Summit acknowledges virus threat but plays up economic opportunities
On the same day the
"Likely a recession could happen," said
Other speakers at the well-attended event focused instead on positive aspects of the local economy, from a major reconstruction project in eastern
Wednesday's optimism followed a frank assessment early on by the head of the
His point, punctuated by a joke about personal space and other glancing references to the coronavirus, was that challenges generally bring opportunity and the event was mostly aimed at highlighting the richness of
There were signs of concern about the virus nevertheless.
Even Thompson's speech was circumspect as he noted
Timing was partly to blame for Wednesday's presenters mostly sticking to their scripts: The summit took place just two days after a major stock market decline and a roughly 25 percent drop in oil prices.
One big concern was that business activity would suffer as people hunker down to avoid infection. Thompson said that sort of behavior will affect sales and earnings of every major company in the world.
At a time of falling stock prices, declining bond yields and rising prospects for deflation, he offered what he called one piece of truly good news.
"Consumers are still spending at the rate they have been spending," he said. "That's a real positive."
CSUB assistant professor of economics
As the virus causes Chinese consumers to scale back consumption of
Other speakers largely avoided mention of the coronavirus, the stock market and oil prices while pushing forward with promotional presentations.
"I may cough but we have no intention of canceling our festival" this year, he said upon taking the podium Wednesday.
The reconstruction project will give
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