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President Donald Trump lashed out at the news media on Wednesday morning, accusing it of hyping up the threat from the novel coronavirus, which has spread to roughly 40 countries.

"Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible," Trump said in a tweet blasting two cable-news outlets.

The president's combative remarks echoed a statement that Business Insider received from a White House spokesman on Tuesday.

Trump is reportedly furious that the stock market has tanked over mounting fears that the virus will inevitably spread within the US.

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President Donald Trump lashed out at the news media on Wednesday morning and accused it of trying to panic financial markets even as high-level American public-health officials warned that the spread of the novel coronavirus within the US was "inevitable."

"Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible," Trump said on Twitter, misspelling the name of the virus that's spread to roughly 40 countries and blasting two cable-news outlets that have drawn his ire in the past.

He went on: "Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!"

He also announced a news conference scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday in which he would appear alongside officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The president's combative remarks echoed a statement that Business Insider received from the White House spokesman Judd Deere on Tuesday. It alleged there was "a political effort by the left and some in the media to distract and disturb the American people with fearful rhetoric and palace intrigue" and defended the administration's response to the coronavirus so far.

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Trump is said to be furious that the stock market has tanked over mounting fears that the virus will spread within the US, The Washington Post reported. The market drop threatens one of his favorite economic scorecards he's touted in his reelection campaign.

The sell-off in the Dow Jones Industrial Average totaled 1,911 points over just two days, Business Insider's Gwen Everett reported, the worst two-day point drop on record for the index. The S&P 500 erased more than 3% on Tuesday alone.

The stock losses came after top US health officials warned Americans they should start preparing for the spread of the virus within the US, an assessment that contrasted sharply with comments from Trump and other senior White House officials like Larry Kudlow.

Both have said the coronavirus is under control and tried striking an upbeat tone in recent days. "We have contained this," Kudlow said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday. "I won't say it's airtight, but it's pretty close to airtight."

The coronavirus continues to spread, particularly in Europe, where new infections were reported in France, Croatia, Switzerland, and Austria. The US has 57 confirmed cases so far, though the vast majority of them originated overseas.

But most cases and deaths resulting from COVID-19 remain at its point of origin in China, where more than 2,000 people have died.

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