Billionaire Ken Langone said the corona virus’ risk to the U.S. is being overblown despite President Donald Trump's "brilliant, courageous" response so far to fight it.
The co-founder of Home Depot, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to the NYU Langone medical center, admits the coronavirus is a serious threat.
The rapid stock market correction since the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s record high earlier this month “far, far surpasses” the severity of the outbreak, Lagone told CNBC on Friday.
“What I see more as a problem than anything else is this panic. And there is a panic going on if you look at the market.” He added that the virus’ risk to the U.S. is being overblown.
“Let the scientists do their work. Let the government leaders do their work,” he said in a “Squawk Alley” interview. “I urge everybody to be calm, be cool, be collected.”
Langone said that goes for investors concerned about the stock market and everyone worried about contracting the virus. “Don’t let your emotions run away with you,” he stressed. “Don’t give up on America and don’t give up on the world. It’s not that time.” Months from now, this week’s market plunge is doing to look like a great buying opportunity, he added.
A longtime GOP supporter and a backer of President Donald Trump, Langone said that battling the coronavirus crisis is not a political issue.
Langone also praised Trump’s actions in fighting the virus.
"By the way, the president's early actions regarding blocking off people from coming from certain countries was brilliant, and it was courageous, and he did the right thing," Langone said.
"I think, for example, this committee, this task force, have all the best minds in America involved in it, and I think it will be great."
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday said the central bank will "act as appropriate" to support the economy in the face of risks posed by the coronavirus outbreak, though he said the economy remains in solid condition, Reuters reported.
"The fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong," Powell said in a statement released amid an ongoing sell-off in global stock markets. "However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook. We will use our tools and act as appropriate to support the economy."
The single paragraph, three-sentence statement comes in response to soaring market expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates at its upcoming March meeting, and flags the Fed's willingness to move if the health emergency continues to spread and impact the economy.
After a weeklong and accelerating market sell-off, some analysts were waiting for such a signal from Powell. Until the chair spoke Fed officials had largely focused on the fact that the virus outbreak had not seemed to dent U.S. economic data, and that they expected the outbreak to be contained and any economic damage to be modest.
By Friday, however, investors were anticipating Fed action with such certainty it could prove hard for the central bank not to move for fear that disrupting those expectations would cause damage of its own.
© 2026 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.