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Ahead of the market open, the U.S. Labor Department will release initial jobless claims data for the week ended Feb. 29. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits to fall marginally to 215,000 from 219,000 in the prior week.

Thursdays initial jobless claims follow better-than-expected ADP private sector employment data Wednesday and ahead of the governments February jobs report scheduled for release Friday.

According to ADP/Moodys monthly report, private payrolls rose by a 183,000 in February. Consensus expectations were for 170,000 job additions during the month. The labor market remains firm, as private-sector payrolls continued to expand in February, Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement. Job creation remained heavily concentrated in large companies, which continue to be the strongest performers.

Meanwhile, Mark Zandi, Moodys Analytics chief economist said, COVID-19 will need to break through the job market firewall if it is to do significant damage to the economy. The firewall has some cracks, but judging by the February employment gain it should be strong enough to weather most scenarios.

A woman wears a face mask while purchasing bottles of rubbing alcohol at a Costco store in Alhambra, California on February 4, 2020. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Big box retailer Costco (COST) will report fiscal second-quarter financial results after the market close. Analysts polled by Bloomberg are expecting the company to report adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share on $38.18 billion in revenue. Same-store sales, a closely-watched metric, will likely have grown 6.4%, and U.S. same-store sales are expected to have jumped 6.5%.

While many businesses are feeling the wrath of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, Costco is one of the rare companies that has seen a surge in traffic and sales in recent days due to the outbreak.

It's one of the better positioned retailers to weather any impact from Covid-19, according to UBS analyst Michael Lasser. We believe Costco's bulk offerings positions it to be a relative share taker if the outbreak intensifies in the U.S. Even if its in store sales ultimately face some pressure, we believe Costco is well positioned to make up much of this on the back of its recent investments in omni-channel. This includes its nationwide home delivery for non-perishable items, as well as fresh grocery through third-party providers like Instacart.

Shares of the big box retailer have soared 8% so far this year, while the broader market has tumbled 4% in the same period. The options market is implying about a 6.5% move in either direction for the stock following its earnings announcement.

Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter:@heidi_chung.

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This story is part of a series to celebrate Yahoos 25th birthday. Thanks for joining us along this wild, wonderful ride.

With Yahoo turning 25 years old, were taking a look at some of the most popular athletes of the era.

This isnt a list of the most-liked athletes. Some are beloved. Some are divisive. Some are universally reviled. But they all demand your attention.

Heres a look back at the athletes who have defined the last 25 years in sports.

Has there been a bigger athlete during the internet age than LeBron James? The first player to truly challenge Michael Jordans GOAT throne, James somehow exceeded the tremendous hype of his prep days to set new standards for how basketball is played and business is done in the NBA.

From his meteoric rise through his tabloid fall to his redemption at the 2019 Masters, few sports stories have personified the internet era better than Tiger Woods. A transcendent athlete who broke down race barriers and changed the game, Woods is always compelling.

Before Serena Williams burst onto the scene with her sister Venus, a black woman from Compton making waves in the tennis world was inconceivable. Now 21 years after winning her first grand slam, Serena has 23 and is widely considered the greatest womens tennis player ever. Oh and she won one of them while pregnant. The internet is on board with all of this.

Tom Brady is inarguably the greatest championship quarterback of all time. But is he the the greatest quarterback ever? Throw in a few New England Patriots cheating scandals, and youve got a debate custom-made for the internet.

Michael Jordan (Tony Ranze/AFP via Getty Images)

Michael Jordans peak with the Chicago Bulls arrived before the rise of the internet. Its a testament to his unrivaled legacy that hes maintained such a significant presence on the web post-retirement. Crying Jordan doesnt hurt his cause.

Barry Bonds in 2002. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

With or without PEDs, Barry Bonds is arguably the greatest hitter baseballs ever seen. That his legacy is tarnished as the face of MLBs steroid era gave birth to one of the fiercest debates of the internet age. Does the most-feared hitter in baseball history belong in Cooperstown?

Usain Bolt at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. (Photo by William Volcov/Brazil Photo Press/LatinContent via Getty Images)

For three straight Olympics, one question prompted appointment viewing unlike than any other in sports. Is Usain Bolt the fastest man in the world? In Beijing, in London and in Rio, the answer was always a resounding yes. Blessed with bottomless swagger and the game to back it up, the greatest sprinter the worlds ever seen is also one of its greatest showmen.

Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl in 2007. (Photo by Gary W. Green/MCT/via Getty Images)

Between his aww-shucks demeanor, self-deprecating humor and mastery of game tactics, Peyton Manning commanded the admiration and respect of the football world while winning two Super Bowl titles. By the time he was done, Tom Brady had surpassed him in the GOAT conversation thanks to his abundance of rings. But was he truly the better quarterback in his prime?

Brandi Chastain's iconic World Cup moment in 1999. (Hector Mata/AFP via Getty Images)

Brandi Chastain wasnt the best player on the historic 1999 USA World Cup team. That honor belongs to Mia Hamm. But as far as moments go, few in sports are bigger that Chastains game-winner to beat China in penalty kicks for the World Cup title. The image of Chastain in her sports bra emblazoned magazine covers and stands alongside USA Hockeys Miracle on Ice as one of American sports proudest moments.

Alex Rodriguez with the New York Yankees. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

In 2014, Alex Rodriguez was suspended for an entire season, a baseball pariah at the center of MLBs steroid scandal. Now hes engaged to Jennifer Lopez and embraced by the game as baseballs most prominent broadcaster. Will he make the Hall of Fame? It seems unlikely. But Barry Bonds should probably take some public relations cues regardless.

Kobe Bryant (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

Before his death in a helicopter crash alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, Kobe Bryant was already an icon. A five-time champion and a fierce competitor whose intensity rivaled that of Michael Jordan, Bryant was proclaimed the greatest Los Angeles Laker by none other than Magic Johnson. His basketball legacy stands among the titans of the game while his death is one of the great tragedies in sports.

Lance Armstrong (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong made America care about cycling while winning the Tour de France seven times. He did so while acting as one of the worlds greatest cancer-awareness advocates. Then he devolved into one of sports greatest villains, an admitted (eventually) cheater who vilified anyone his path on his way down from the top. His is a story made for the internet.

Colin Kaepernick, middle, kneeling with Eric Reid, right, and Eli Harold. (Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)

With the simple act of taking a knee, Colin Kaepernick elevated himself from quarterback to cultural force. Praised as a champion of racial equality and social justice, reviled by detractors who view his protests as unpatriotic, Kaepernick is arguably the most controversial athlete of his time.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the 2009 Australian Open. (AP Photo/Rick Stevens)

Each of these icons stories easily stands alone. But theyre better told as one. The two greatest champions in mens tennis history put on the most dominant run the sports ever seen for a decade. Then they did it again for five more years, all while delivering the games most thrilling matchups when the stakes were at their highest (and theyre still going strong).

Michael Phelps at the 2016 Rio games. (Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

By the time Micheal Phelps donned his 28th Olympic medal in 2016, the sight had almost become blas. The most decorated athlete in Olympic history by a long shot (Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina comes in second with 18), Phelps dominated four Olympic games from Athens to Rio while compiling 23 golds. Detractors can point to the abundance of medals made available to swimmers all they want, but nobody comes close to Phelps tally.

Conor McGregor before his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. (AP Photo/John Locher, file)

Brash, savvy, vulgar, petulant and immensely talented, Conor McGregor is the fight games preeminent heel. He doesnt care what you think about his attitude or his rap sheet, as long as you tune in. And tune in fans and haters alike do whenever McGregor is on the card. Even if its for a sham boxing match.

Simone Biles at the Rio games in 2016. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Simone Biles arrived at the 2016 Olympics as the face of the Final Five, the USA womens gymnastics team loaded with massive expectations. When she left Rio, she took with her five Olympic medals four of them gold including golds in team competition and as the all-around champion. After her anointment as the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport, Biles has somehow gotten even better with 2020 in Tokyo looming.

Shaquille O'Neal after winning his second NBA championship and Finals MVP in 2001. (Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images)

Shaquille ONeal joined the NBA as a physical force like basketball had never seen. A 7-1, 300-plus-pound giant who could run the floor and dominate the paint, ONeal made an immediate impact as the 1993 Rookie of the Year averaging an astounding 23.4 points and 13.9 rebounds. Four championships and three Finals MVPs later, his outsized personality was the only serious competition to his throne as the most dominant big man of his era.

Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

A college football legend and an NFL bust, Tebow has ridden his polarizing popularity to a shot in the New York Mets farm system as a 32-year-old. Love him or loath him, theres no denying the impact he made in leading Florida to a pair of national championships. No matter where you come down on Tebow, odds are youre paying attention to what hes doing.

Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire (Christina Macias/Belleville News-Democrat/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Horiz)

In 1998, America was enthralled with baseball. Three years removed from a strike that drove fans away, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire engaged in a home run and MVP race brought them back in droves and made headlines beyond the sports pages. By the time suspicion of steroid use spilled over into the halls of Congress seven years later, a feel-great moment for the sport had devolved into one of its biggest black eyes.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Floyd Mayweathers greatness is undeniable. His 50-0 mark stands as a bellwether for boxing, his precision and dedication to perfection in the ring unassailable. His problems outside the ring that include a multitude of domestic violence accusations are impossible to ignore.

Megan Rapinoe at the 2019 World Cup. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

Megan Rapinoe could make this list on her merit as a soccer player alone. The face of the 2019 World Cup champions, Rapinoe took home the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards as the tournaments best player and leading goal scorer. That she uses her platform to advocate for LGBTQ awareness, womens rights and equality and social justice elevates her status beyond the field of play.

Stephen Curry, left, at the 2017 NBA Finals. (MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images)

Stephen Curry joined the NBA in 2009 as an undersized scoring guard with a penchant for hitting big shots. Two league MVPs and three NBA championships later, hes the standard-bearer for a basketball revolution. While other teams looked to emulate the success of the Golden State Warriors, encouraging shooters to shoot early, often and deep from 3-point range, none of those teams have Curry or their success.

Dale Earnhardt after his long-awaited Daytona 500 victory in 1998. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

In 1998, Dale Earnhardt filled the one glaring gap in his illustrious NASCAR career, securing a long-awaited victory at the sports most prestigious event, the Daytona 500. Three years later, the track that eluded him for most of his career claimed his life. Earnhardts fatal crash at the 2001 Daytona 500 robbed the sport of its most beloved champion and sent shockwaves beyond the racing community.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. (Photo by Pressefoto Ulmerullstein bild via Getty Images)

Soccer icons and rivals on a global stage, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi regularly ignite one of the hottest arguments in sports. Whos the best player in the world? With their primes intersecting, their rivalry stands alongside the likes of Ali-Frazier, Magic-Bird and Federer-Nadal among the greatest in sports history.

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Yahoo Turns 25: Take a look back at some of the most popular athletes in the last 25 years in sports - Yahoo Sports

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised people to use contactless technology instead of cash as banknotes may be spreading coronavirus.

The infectious COVID-19 virus could be carried on the surface of banknotes for several days, the WHO warned on Monday night.

To stop the spread of the disease, people should use contactless payments where possible and wash their hands after handling cash, a WHO spokesman said.

The Bank of England also recognised that banknotes can carry bacteria or viruses and encouraged frequent hand washing.

Read more: Bank of England will take all necessary steps on coronavirus

Last month banks in China and Korea began disinfecting and isolating used banknotes as part of efforts to stem the spread of the deadly virus.

Ultraviolet light or high temperature is being used to disinfect and sterilise banknotes, before the cash is sealed and stored for up to 14 days before being recirculated, Chinas central bank said at a press conference.

A Bank of England source said there were no plans to do the same in the UK.

A Bank of England spokesman told the Telegraph: Like any other surface that large numbers of people come into contact with, notes can carry bacteria or viruses.

However, the risk posed by handling a polymer note is no greater than touching any other common surface, such as handrails, doorknobs or credit cards.

Read more: Fears coronavirus threatens 'Boris bounce'

Coronavirus can be spread through contaminated objects as well as droplets and direct contact with infected patients, the WHO said.

We know that money changes hands frequently and can pick up all sorts of bacteria and viruses, a spokesman told the Telegraph.

We would advise people to wash their hands after handling banknotes, and avoid touching their face.

When possible it would also be advisable to use contactless payments to reduce the risk of transmission.

It is not yet known how long the coronavirus can survive outside the human body.

Read more: Stocks jump ahead of emergency G7 coronavirus call

It has been suggested that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on contaminated objects for as long as nine days at room temperature in an analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar viruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) published online this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

However, common disinfectants can swiftly remove them, and they may also be destroyed by high temperatures, the authors wrote. It is not yet clear whether the new coronavirus also behaves in this way.

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Banknotes may be spreading coronavirus, World Health Organisation warns - Yahoo Finance

Gilead could be sitting on close to $20 billion in untapped stock market value, provided it has success with a potential new coronavirus vaccine.

Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh estimates that a worldwide release of remdesivir currently in Phase 3 trial for Gilead could lead to $500 million in yearly pandemic sales stocking. The analyst assumes the coronavirus pill would cost $50 to $100 per patient compared to $16 a pill for flu treatment Tamiflu in the U.S. Singh sees the pill reaching 5 million to 10 million people in terms of pandemic stock-piling.

Gileads trials of remdesivir include one targeting patients with severe manifestations of coronavirus. The other focuses on patients with more moderate affects from COVID-19.

Assuming such a conservative model, successful Phase 3 outcomes in the moderate patients are worth 5% to 10% to Gilead. If both Phase 3's are successful, we foresee greater pricing leverage in developed markets and higher stocking; leading to a 10% to 20% valuation bump. Clearly a pandemic stockpiling of remdesivir (like Tamiflu) is where Gilead stock benefits most. Acute treatment for millions of patients would be more a harbinger of a Street meltdown, Singh writes.

Using the aggressive side of Singhs estimates for remdesivir, Gileads market cap could approach $115 billion versus $94 billion today.

The market has begun to lock in on Gilead and to a lesser extent Moderna as coronavirus vaccine winners.

Shares of Gilead has rocketed 10% higher over the past month while the broader stock market has gone in the tank on fears of a global economic slowdown. On the other hand, Moderna which has a coronavirus vaccine in Phase 1 has seen its stock skyrocket 31% in the past month.

[Take our quick poll: Do you think the stock market has bottomed?]

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The coronavirus outbreakhas been turning a lot of us into amateur epidemiologists. Just listen to Mick Mulvaney, the former real estate developer and member of Congress from South Carolina who is now acting White House chief of staff.The flu kills people, he said last week. This is not Ebola. Its not SARS, its not MERS. Its not a death sentence,its not the same as the Ebola crisis.

All those statements aretrue. The flu does kill people: an estimated 61,099 in the U.S. in the worst recent flu season, that of 2017-2018. People who get Covid-19, the World Health Organizations shorthand for Coronavirus Disease 2019,(1) are much less likely to die than those infected with Ebola, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome of 2003and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome first reported in 2012. And no, this is not the same as the Ebola crisis.

Its not the same as the 2014 Ebola crisis in part because it appears to be a much bigger deal for the U.S. and other countries outside of West Africa.As Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, also technically an amateur epidemiologist but by this point quite a well-informed one, put it Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine: Covid-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen weve been worried about.

How do we reconcile these differing views of Covid-19? Well, I too am an amateur as an epidemiologist, but I find that charts and (very simple) equations help me think through things. On the theory that others might find this helpful, too, lets start with the approximate case-fatality rates for the diseases listed by Mulvaney and a few others you may have heard of.

These fatality rates can change a lot depending on time and place and access to treatment. The Covid-19 rate is obviously a moving target, so Ive included both the 3.4% worldwide mortality ratereported this weekby the World Health Organization and the1% estimate froma study released Feb. 10 by theMRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London that factored in probableunreported cases. The authors of that study also said that,given the information available at the time, they were 95% confidentthe correct fatality rate was somewhere between 0.5% and 4%. Gates used the 1% estimate in his article, and when I ran it byCaroline Buckee,an actual professional epidemiologist who is a professor at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she termed itreasonable.

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In a context that includes Ebola and MERS, the Covid-19 death rates are much closer to those of the flu, and its understandable why people find the comparison reassuring. Compare Covid-19 with just the flu, though, and it becomes clear how different they are.

The 61,099 flu-related deaths in the U.S. during the severe flu season of 2017-2018 amounted to0.14% of the estimated 44.8 million cases of influenza-like illness. There were also an estimated flu-related 808,129 hospitalizations, for a rate of 1.8%. Assume a Covid-19 outbreak of similar size in the U.S., multiply the death and hospitalization estimatesby five or 10, and you get some really scary numbers: 300,000 to 600,000 deaths, and 4 million to 8 million hospitalizations in a country that has924,107 staffed hospital beds. Multiply by 40 and, well, forget about it. Also, death rates would go higher if the hospital system is overwhelmed, as happened in the Chinese province of Hubei where Covid-19s spread began and seems to be happening in Iran now. Thats one reason thatslowing the spread is important even if it turns out the disease cant be stopped.

Could Covid-19 really spread as widely as the flu? If allowed to, sure. The standard metric for infectiousness is whats called the reproduction number, or R0. Itisusually pronounced R naught, and the zero after the R should be rendered in subscript, but its a simple enough concept. An R0 of one means each person with the disease can be expected to infect one more person. If the number dips below one, the disease will peterout. If itgets much above one, the disease can spread rapidly.

Here are R0s for the same list of diseases as above. These are rough approximations, in most cases the midpoints of quite-large ranges. But they do give a sense of relative infectiousness.

This helps explain why public health authorities want everybody to get vaccinated against the measles. Its not all that deadly a disease, but once it gets going in an unvaccinated population, everybody gets it.

Thenumbers also seem to indicate that Covid-19 isa lot more contagious than the seasonal flu. Average R0 isnt the whole story, though. Why all the worry about MERS, for example, which with an R0 below one shouldnt spread at all? Well, its extremely deadly, its R0 can rise above one in certain environments, among them hospitals, and ... you can catch it from your camel.

Then theres SARS, which is both deadlier than Covid-19 and has a similar R0. Why was it wiped out in about a year, while some experts warn that Covid-19 may be around forever? Because SARSusually didnt become contagious until several daysafter symptoms appeared. This meant that, as four British infectious disease expertswrote in 2004, actions taken during this period to isolate or quarantine ill patients can effectively interrupt transmission. They proposed adding another variable to disease-transmission models: the proportion of transmission occurring prior to symptoms. For SARS, this was less than 11%, probably much less. For influenza, it is between 30% and 50%, making it far harder to control the diseases spread.

With Covid-19, it seems that it can transmit quite a bit before symptoms occur, Buckee says. How much is still up in the air.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been arguing this week that pre-symptomatic transmission appears to be low enough that Covid-19 can be controlled in ways that the flu cannot. If this was an influenza epidemic, we would have expected to see widespread community transmission across the globe by now, he said Monday, and efforts to slow it down or contain it would not be feasible.

To understand how the spread of such a disease can be contained, ithelps to break R0 down to its constituent parts. A simple formula that I got from Buckee is:

the probability of infection given contact with an infectious person (b), multiplied by the contact rate (k), multiplied by the infectious duration (d)

In some cases you can shorten the infectious duration with treatment. Quarantining people once you know theyre infected effectively shortens it, too. Variables b and k, meanwhile, areclearly dependent on behavior. The probability of infection is reduced by things like frequent hand-washing, replacing handshakes with fist bumps and such. The contact rate is reduced by staying home. By putting much of the country on lockdown, Chinese authoritiesreduced the contact rate enough that Covid-19s R0 in the countryfell below one. They also incurred huge economic and social costs. Now,as China beginsto go back to work, the big question is whether a less-draconian approach can keep the disease in check or whether it will just start spreading again.

Thats the big question in the U.S., Europeand pretty much everywhere else on earth too. It cant be answered entirely by professional epidemiologists, either. Weighing whether the costs of a particular intervention are worth the benefits is at hearta political decision. So its actually good that politiciansare moonlighting as amateur epidemiologists. Some of them may justneed to study a little harder.

(1) The name for the virus, as opposed to the disease, is SARS-CoV-2.

To contact the author of this story: Justin Fox at justinfox@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stacey Shick at sshick@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He was the editorial director of Harvard Business Review and wrote for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is the author of The Myth of the Rational Market.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Alex Trebeks personal health struggles havent halted his generosity to those less fortunate.

The Jeopardy! host, who has been fighting stage IV pancreatic cancer, has donated $100,000 to the Los Angeles-based Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, a non-profit that works to to prevent, reduce and eliminate poverty, hunger and homelessness.

Ken Craft, the president and CEO of the charity, tells Yahoo Entertainment that Trebek had quietly and without fanfare been making donations to the group for several years. Amid Hope of the Valleys latest expansion over the last 10 years, it has opened 12 facilities, with three more opening in upcoming months, doubling its sleeping capacity Craft reached out to top donors in a plea for financial help and one day his phone rang.

I was sitting at my desk in January and I get a phone call and the gentleman on the other line said, Ken, this is Alex Trebek, Craft recalled. The game show host said he had been keeping tabs on what the organization was doing and requested a tour of the North Hollywood shelter, one of the new facilities.

Needless to say, Craft obliged, recalling how Trebek, 79, pulled up to the facility in his Ram truck wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, a ball cap and glasses. I hardly recognized him, he said. Im always used to seeing him in a suit on Jeopardy!, which Trebek has hosted since 1984.

Alex Trebek, on the set of Jeopardy!, made a large donation to the Los Angeles-based non-profit Hope of the Valley, saying he liked what the group was doing to help combat homelessness. (Photo: Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images)

Craft showed him the facility, which will house 84 people, and all its amenities. And then they drove to a second facility thats in the works and toured that as well. The men parted after Trebek said he wasnt feeling so well, around the time he was having trouble with his chemo medications, but said he would be in touch in a few weeks.

And several weeks later, Trebek called again, inquiring about the financials of the charity from Crafts salary ($105,000) to the overall budget. Craft offered to provide the TV personality with audited financials, which he did, and soon after Trebek invited him to his house. At the meeting, it was apparent to Craft that Trebek had done his research on the non-profit.

He had printed out our financials, Craft recalled, and said, If Im reading this correctly, you make about 40 percent of your revenue from your thrift store. Is that correct? I said, Yes it is. He said, I like that. Youre earning money. He pointed out some other things. Then he said, By the way, the reason why I asked you how much you make is because I supported another charity at one point and after the fact, I learned that the CEO was making $450,000. I just dont think thats a good use of non-profit finances. It was just great conversation, and he said, I really like what youre doing.

Trebek then presented Craft with an envelope inside a check for $100,000 and said he hoped it would help with the expansion. Craft said it moved me emotionally and with tears in my eyes he thanked him, including after getting permission with a hug.

According to Craft, Trebek said he became interested in the charity because while driving around L.A. he noticed an increased number of homeless and felt he needed to do something to contribute and help. Craft said he will remain absolutely humbled and honored and eternally grateful Trebek chose Hope of the Valley, which he founded a decade ago.

Trebek also invited Craft and his wife to a taping of Jeopardy!, taking time during a commercial break to tell the audience that while he didnt usually do this type of thing, he wanted to call attention to a couple here that Im incredibly proud of, Craft recalled Trebek saying. Theyre doing great work in the fight against homelessness and I believe in them and I support them. They were then called up to the set for further praise and a keepsake photo op.

It just moved me because here he is he has his own challenges, his own health issues that hes working through and yet instead of it being about Alex, its about others, Craft said. His focus is outward to the community and helping those who are suffering. I think it really speaks to the kind of man that he is. Not only is he generous, hes compassionate, hes caring but hes also thoughtful. He wanted to do due diligence to make sure that we are a good organization and its a good investment of his finances.

Craft said he got Trebeks approval to make his generosity public with the hope that generosity breeds generosity. And he also got the OK to name the largest gathering room at the new North Hollywood (NoHo) facility after Trebek and his wife, Jean.

Trebek plans to be there when the Alex and Jean Trebek Multipurpose Room opens, right now scheduled for June.

In a statement to Yahoo, Trebek says, Homelessness is a serious problem. I wanted to do something, so I researched this charity, visited their facility, and personally saw the good work they are doing, and wanted to help. I hope others will do what they can as well.

Last March, Trebek went public with his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. With a fighting spirit, he underwent chemo and it was deemed a success, but in September he had a setback and had to begin another round of chemo. In January, he shared that his doctors had to switch up one chemo drug he was on because it was killing him.

Trebek, who doesnt plan to retire anytime soon, has also said amid his battle that some days are better than others. But having the support of so many people around the globe certainly helps.

Some people would say, Thats a bad deal that Alex has got,' Trebek said last month. But there are a lot of people out there who have been informed that they have cancer, they have heart problems, serious other diseases, they have Parkinsons, whatever, you name it. But they have to deal with it, and thats what I have to [do].

He went on to say hes humbled by all the love and had no idea that our show and myself had such an impact on the lives of so many people out there.

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Homelessness charity head 'humbled' by Alex Trebek's $100K donation: 'It really speaks to the kind of man that he is' - Yahoo Entertainment

In the days following Kobe Bryants tragic death in a helicopter crash, fans all over the world mourned the NBA all-stars death. And some were also motivated to protect their own families if something terrible happened to them.

The volume of life insurance application requests and submissions spiked in the days after the 41-year-olds death on Jan. 26, 2020, according to True Blue Life Insurance, an online aggregator and comparison site for life insurance.

Read more: 10 simple things you can do to protect your family and money

Application requests jumped by 50% on the Tuesday after Bryants death, 52% on Wednesday, and 55% on Thursday, while the volume of submitted applications increased by 58% on Sunday, Jan. 26 the same day as the crash and 61% on Monday. The spike subsided to normal levels within a week.

One of the main triggers when people buy life insurance is someone they know passes away, said Brian Greenberg, founder and CEO True Blue Life Insurance. In a lot of the phone calls to our agents, Kobe came up.

A view of the giant mural by the street artist Jorit Agoch, depicting Kobe Bryant, in the Montedonzelli district of Naples. (Photo: Marco Cantile/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Jen Plisch, a sales agent with the company for four years, recalled that several people mentioned Bryant in the week after his death while signing up for insurance. One, in particular, stood out to her.

A mother of six children called in, telling Pilsch she had been meaning to get life insurance on everyone in her family, but kept procrastinating. But Bryants death triggered the woman, whos in her early 30s, to finally do it. She bought policies for herself, her husband, and each of her children.

A lot of times [life insurance] is on the back burner until something happens, Pilsch said, adding that the NBA legends death got people thinking that anything can happen to anybody.

January is traditionally the busiest time of the year for True Blue, Greenberg said. People often have conversations with family during the holidays where death and life insurance comes up. Many make resolutions to look into buying a policy in the new year, he said.

Fans react as they watch the "Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant" service on an mobile device outside the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles on February 24, 2020. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Bryants passing accelerated many of those plans.

I think he was so well-known, so well-liked and he was young with children. Its just a similarity effect, Greenberg said. Its not like Kobe Bryant needed life insurance.

Usually people are motivated after someone they know passes suddenly and they dont have life insurance. They may set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the funeral or other ongoing financial burdens, Greenberg said.

One of Bryants many lasting legacies could be helping families avoid that fate.

Weve never seen a spike like we did with Kobe, Greenberg said of other celebrity deaths. We called it the Kobe Bryant effect.

Janna is an editor for Yahoo Money andCashay. Follow her on Twitter@JannaHerron.

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'Anything can happen to anybody': Kobe Bryants tragic death led to a life insurance boom - Yahoo Money

Last week, former ESPN reporter and current Fox News contributor Britt McHenry announced that the has a brain tumor.

On Wednesday, she went in for brain surgery.

Prior to the procedure, McHenry posted a photo from her hospital bed on Twitter, thanking her former and current colleagues for their support.

As of the time of this post, there were no further updates on McHenrys procedure. She kept the location of her procedure private.

McHenry explained on an Instagram video on Tuesday how she discovered the tumor in an effort to raise awareness.

Ive been having headaches for six months now, but I was going through a very public and well-documented stressful situation at work, McHenry said. So I assumed the migraines and vomiting and nausea was associated with that stress.

She said a chiropractor eventually recommended that she undergo an MRI, which detected a golf-ball sized tumor.

Please know, I'm only 33, and if you are having consistent symptoms anywhere, it could be something more serious," she said.

It's scary to have your head cut open, but I'm in good hands, and I appreciate everyone whos reached out.

The stress McHenry mentioned referenced a sexual harassment suit she filed against her employer.

In December,she sued Fox News, claiming the network failed to respond to her multiple accusations that former co-host George Murdoch sexually harassed her.

Prior to joining Fox News as a host on streaming service Fox Nation, McHenry spent three years at ESPN from 2014-17 as a reporter making regular contributions to SportsCenter, NFL Live and Baseball Tonight.

She was part ofa round of mass layoffs at ESPN in 2017. From there, she leaned into her conservative political beliefs, translating them into a role with the Fox News network.

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Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry shares photo from hospital bed before brain surgery to remove 'golf-ball sized tumor' - Yahoo Sports

Dwyane Wade didnt ask for any money after winning a friendly bet with Shaquille ONeal this week.

Thankfully, we all get to benefit.

ONeal and Wade threw down a bet for Mondays Milwaukee Bucks-Miami Heat game, which the Heat won 105-89. Wade, of course, took the Heat.

So after the game, ONeal hit Wade up and asked how they wanted to settle the bet, and if he should pay him. Wade, though, had something better in mind.

He said, Nah, you have to let your hairline grow out. We want to see your hairline looking like Kenny Smith, ONeal said. So I just lined it up for yall so yall can see where my hairline starts.

I look good, and Im proud to do it, and Im keeping it all week.

Naturally, with his hairline starting so far back on his head, ONeal was subject to plenty of jokes on social media.

Please, for all our sakes, keep these bets coming.

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Shaq's hairline is here, thanks to Dwyane Wade - Yahoo Sports

Joe Bidens decisive Super Tuesday victories have catapulted him from also-ran to the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, with predictive markets and Wall Street betting on the former vice president to prevail in his effort to outflank Bernie Sanders.

After a blowout win in South Carolina over the weekend, Bidens momentum carried him to a string of impressive wins on Tuesdays primary contests. While he lost California, the ex-Senator and VP racked up a string of shutouts across the South including Texas.

In fact, traders attributed Wall Streets rally on Wednesday in part to investors breathing a sigh of relief that Sanders fortunes appear to be waning. Real Clear Politics and Smarkets forecast his chances of winning the Democratic nomination at well over 60%, while U.K. betting site Paddy Politics implies a nearly 78% chance Biden will face President Donald Trump in November.

With former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg all dropping out and coalescing behind Bidens candidacy, he appears poised to consolidate support among centrist Democrats. Oddsmakers now favor a primary contest that pits the more moderate Biden against the Vermont Senator.

A tense night followed for the other candidates as it soon became clear this was a Sanders vs. Biden contest, said Sarbjit Bakhshi, Smarkets head of political markets, on Wednesday.

Biden winning Texas cemented an unbelievable resurgence, which started back in South Carolina and has continued until now - leaving him the firm favorite, Bakhshi added.

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. Stocks are surging in early trading on Wall Street, led by health care stocks after Joe Biden scored a number of Super Tuesday wins. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Tuesdays victories represented a sharp reversal of fortune for Biden, who was all but written off just a week ago as Sanders a self-described Democratic socialist whose aggressive tax-and-spend platform has unsettled Wall Street surged in national polls.

Just last week, Smarkets and Paddy Power both had Bidens chances languishing at the low end of the shrinking primary field. On Wednesday, the former VP surged on both platforms and helped feed a rally in key Dow (^DJI) components.

Health insurance stocks like UnitedHealth (UNH), Pfizer (PFE) and Walgreens-Boots Alliance (WBA) spiked on expectations that Bidens less government-centric plan wont radically reshape the sector. Sanders has embraced a Medicare-for-All, which in theory would nationalize most if not all of health care.

Health care can be a little bit more volatile as this political season plays out with the ebb and flow of which candidate is considered the frontrunner, TD Ameritrade strategist Shawn Cruz told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.

I think that will intensify as we get closer to the general election, especially if its looking like a little bit of a toss-up of whos going to win, he told On the Move.

Regardless, both Smarkets and Paddy Power investors expect Trump to prevail over both Sanders or Biden with the widening coronavirus outbreak not yet denting the presidents fortunes. Trump has a nearly 62% chance to win in November, according to Paddy Power, with Biden seen having a probability of over 36%.

In fact, Price told Yahoo Finance that one Paddy Power investor has placed a bet worth $210,000 (165,000) on Trumps victory the sites largest election bet to date.

The sites bet on Trump dovetails with a recent investor survey by Deutsche Bank showing a whopping 95% of market participants believing that the president would win a second term. Over 60% of those respondents said it was very likely, according to the bank.

Nearly 7 months from the election, it looks like [Trump] should be in good shape based on historical metrics of unemployment and economic growth, Deutsche said barring a large shock from the COVID-19 outbreak, which may yet happen.

Yahoo Finances Chelsea Lombardo contributed to this article.

Javier David is an editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter:@TeflonGeek

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Biden's odds surge on after big Super Tuesday wins, but Trump still favored in November - Yahoo Finance