**** SATURDAY/SUNDAY, FEB. 29 - MARCH 1, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXV NO. 49 WSJ.com HHHH$5.

WSJ

THEWALLSTREETJOURNALWEEKEND

Party and politics aren’t all that dis-

tinguish the billionaire New Yorker in

the White House from the one seeking to

displace him.

President Trump’s Fifth Avenue apart-

ment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower feels

“like you’re walking into a casino. Very

lavish. A lot of gold,” said John Catsima-

tidis, another billionaire New Yorker. He

also has visited Michael Bloomberg’s

BYMICHAELHOWARDSAUL

ANDKONRADPUTZIER

Europe’s Face-Off

With China

REVIEW

What’s New in

Old Los Angeles

OFF DUTY

Leap-Year Babies Fight a Lonely,

Quadrennial Fight for Recognition

iii

Those born on Feb. 29 know they exist,

but the computer at the DMV is skeptical

What Dean Walsmith really

wants for his birthday is to

have a computer notice him.

Mr. Walsmith, who turns 52

and who celebrates his 13th

leap-year birthday on Satur-

day, launched a Change.org pe-

tition two years ago to make

all computer systems accept

February 29 as an option for

the end of February, instead of

a common setup now of the

28th.

“It’s just annoying,” said

Mr. Walsmith, of Post Falls,

Idaho, whose petition has gar-

nered more than 1,200 signa-

tures. “Hey, it’s not our fault

we were born on the 29th,

dang it.”

Leap-year babies are fight-

ing back. They’re tired of be-

ing told the date on their IDs

is fake. They’re tired of having

trouble at the DMV, getting li-

brary cards, or missing out on

birthday specials that ignore

their day.

Raenell Dawn founded a

group now called the Honor

Society of Leap Year Day Ba-

bies, for people born on Feb.

29 to share the joys—and in-

dignities—leapers such as her-

self must endure. Its member-

Please turn to page A

BYJIMCARLTON

People seeking protection against coronavirus lined up to purchase masks in Seoul on Friday. South Korea is the hardest-hit country outside China.

JEON HEON-KYUN/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Turkey-Syria Tensions Heat Up

Ankara said it retaliated against Assad regime forces a day

after at least 33 Turkish troops were killed in Syria. Mourners

attended a funeral for one of the soldiers on Friday. A

New York City townhouse. “You walk

into Bloomberg’s home on 79th Street,

it’s like Louis XIV’s home,” he said.

“Very conservative.”

Mr. Trump, 73 years old, and Mr.

Bloomberg, 78, lived about 20 blocks

apart on Manhattan’s East Side and

miles apart in sensibility, say dozens of

people who know them. Mr. Trump was

seen as a celebrity whose marriages and

divorces splashed across newsstand tab-

loids. Mr. Bloomberg was the data-

driven businessman who served three

terms as New York’s mayor.

“Mike’s more intellectual, more of a

refined billionaire,” said Don Peebles, a

real-estate developer. “Donald’s more of

a blue-collar billionaire.”

Mr. Bloomberg was raised in a work-

ing-class family outside of Boston and

made his fortune selling data to Wall

Street traders. Once established, he cir-

culated easily in Manhattan’s philan-

Please turn to page A

 Democrats joust in the South........... A4, A

ASSOCIATED PRESS

communities.

A large-scale U.S. coronavi-

rus outbreak would strain a

health-care system already fac-

ing a global disruption in medi-

cal supplies, with an antici-

pated shortage in rooms that

could safely isolate patients, in-

fectious-disease experts said.

“You can’t just invent medi-

cal equipment and more beds

overnight,” said Michael Oster-

holm, director of the University

of Minnesota’s Center for Infec-

tious Disease Research and Pol-

icy. “This could escalate here in

a matter of weeks.”

He said medical-supply man-

ufacturers should cut off retail

sales and narrow their cus-

tomer base to health-care pro-

viders. Hospitals began to re-

strict the use of protective

equipment early in the year as

Please turn to page A

Virus Deepens Selloff, Tests System

Stocks suffer worst

week since 2008 even

after late-Friday rally;

Fed projects calm

0

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%

Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

S&P500performancethisweek

Source: FactSet

Week ended Oct. 10, 2008:▼18.2%

which was the worst weekly decline since 1933

▼11.5%this week

Health providers get

set for a supply pinch

while schools, local

officials weigh closures

into the close.

Still, the weekly losses were

broad. The Dow industrials fell

12.4% this week, a drop of more

than 3500 points, capping their

worst month since 2009. All 11

of the S&P 500’s sectors have

fallen into negative territory

Please turn to page A

During the afternoon, Fed

Chairman Jerome Powell sig-

naled that the central bank was

prepared to cut interest rates

to protect the economy from

the widening global slowdown.

Stocks initially pared losses af-

ter the announcement, dropped

again, then climbed rapidly

U.S. stocks extended a pun-

ishing selloff, dragged to their

worst week since the financial

crisis by mounting investor un-

ease about the economic fallout

from the coronavirus epidemic.

Friday’s session was marked

by wild swings that sent the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

down more than 1000 points

before it rallied over 600

points in the final minutes of

trading to close down 1.4%. The

Nasdaq Composite fell as much

as 3.5% before bouncing higher

to narrowly close in positive

territory—the first time the in-

dex has fallen by that much

and notched a gain for the day

since November 2008, accord-

ing to Dow Jones Market Data.

Some of the most dramatic

moves happened after the Fed-

eral Reserve’s unexpected at-

tempt to calm markets at the

very tail end of a volatile week.

BYGUNJANBANERJI

The spread of coronavirus

world-wide has intensified ef-

forts to prepare for a U.S. out-

break, with hospitals straining

to increase capacity to handle

an influx of contagious pa-

tients, and local governments

considering closures as a pre-

caution.

The Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention this past

week warned of a possible pan-

demic, a day before confirming

that a California patient may be

the first diagnosed case of the

new coronavirus in the U.S.

with no clear idea of how the

patient was exposed. On Friday,

health officials in California

and Oregon reported the na-

tion’s second and third corona-

virus cases with no travel his-

tory to China or known

exposure to carriers, adding to

concerns among officials that

the virus is spreading in U.S.

BYMELANIEEVANS

Online

Furniture

Retailer

Stumbles

In nearly two decades, on-

line home-goods seller Way-

fair Inc. grew quickly by burn-

ing through profits.

Now the e-commerce com-

pany is trying to show inves-

tors it can moderate its losses

as revenue growth slows and

investor appetite for unprofit-

able companies dries up.

On Friday, Wayfair said it

lost $330 million in the quar-

ter ended Dec. 31, more than

twice as much as it lost a year

earlier. Quarterly sales rose

26% from a year before, but

operating expenses jumped

44%. The company’s annual

net loss nearly doubled to

$985 million.

Wayfair isn’t like furniture

chains such as West Elm or

IKEA, which stock stores and

warehouses with curated in-

ventory. It sells sofas and ta-

bles much like Amazon.com

sells books and toys. It has

filled its website with millions

of listings and promises free

shipping on much of it.

To attract those web shop-

pers, it spends heavily. It

keeps minimal inventory and

often ships directly from sup-

pliers. That has quickly cre-

Please turn to page A

BYSARAHNASSAUER

ANDCHARITYL.SCOTT

Trump vs. Bloomberg: the Back Story

The two billionaires, indulged in years of pretense, now trade insults ahead of Super Tuesday

Anxiety Grows

 Risk to supply of many

medicines emerges........ A

 Europe’s health systems

come under strain........... A

 Exchange: A $3.6 trillion

wake-up call.........B1, B4-B

U.S. stocks extendeda
punishing selloff, dragged
to their worst week since
the financial crisis by
mounting investor unease
about the fallout from the
coronavirus epidemic.A
The Fed’s Powell signaled
that the central bank was
prepared to cut rates to
cushion the economy.A

Plans to mandatesimula-
tor training for pilots before
the 737 MAX can return to
service could be further com-
plicated by past strains be-
tween Boeing and the FAA.B

FCC enforcers toldthe
country’s top cellphone car-
riers to pay more than
$200 million in penalties
for allegedly mishandling
sensitive location data.B

Wayfair is tryingto show
it can moderate its losses as
revenue growth slows and
investor appetite for unprof-
itable companies dries up.A

China’s Huaweihas ap-
proached high-profile fig-
ures in Washington to try to
turn around negative per-
ceptions of the company.B

Harley-DavidsonCEO
Levatich resigned, leaving
the motorcycle maker after
years of declining sales.B

Coty saidthat CEO Lau-
bies will leave the com-
pany and be succeeded by
Jimmy Choo chief Denis.B

What’s

News

CONTENTS
Books..................... C7-
Food......................... D8-
Gear & Gadgets D
Heard on Street...B
Markets..................... B
Obituaries............... A

Opinion.............. A13-

Sports........................ A

Style & Fashion D2-

Travel...................... D4-

U.S. News............ A2-

Weather................... A

World News...... A7-

s2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

>

T

he spreadof coronavirus
world-wide has intensi-
fied efforts to prepare for a
U.S. outbreak, with hospitals
straining to increase capacity
to handle an influx of conta-
gious patients, and local gov-
ernments considering closures
as a precaution.A1, A7-A

The U.S. and the Taliban
were set to sign a deal on
Saturday that will chart a
path for all American troops
to leave Afghanistan.A

Trump saidhe intends to
nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe
as his director of national in-
telligence, reviving a selection
that foundered last year.A

A U.S. appeals court
ruled the Trump adminis-
tration must halt its re-
main-in-Mexico policy for
migrants seeking asylum.A

Democratic presidential
hopefuls made their final
pitches ahead of South
Carolina’s primary.A4, A

A federal appeals court
ruled it wasn’t the judiciary’s
place todecide whether Mc-
Gahn must testify in a con-
gressional probe of Trump.A
A House panelsaid it wants
to talk to over a dozen federal
prosecutors, including those
involved in the Stone case.A

Swarms of locustshave
swept across more than 10
nations on two continents
and put millions of Africans
at risk of starvation.A

World-Wide

Business&Finance

NOONAN

Trump Isn’t Easing

Coronavirus

ForebodingsA