Investment guru Sam Zell said he has been scooping up bargains in the market chaos at “ridiculously low” prices.

The billionaire investor told CNBC that he put more in a couple of companies in which he already had significant ownership, including one in the battered energy industry.

Zell said he’s buying energy stocks and debt as well as land, focusing on existing production rather than drilling.

“We’ve been buying some stuff that we thought was ridiculously low” in the recent coronavirus-driven sell-offs on Wall Street. “But not a lot,” said Zell, who made his fortune scooping up distressed assets.

However, apparently not many investors were following Zell's lead into the market.

U.S. stock indexes fell sharply on Thursday as the swift spread of the coronavirus in the United States led California to declare an emergency, while airline stocks were hammered by crippled travel demand.

The U.S. death toll from the outbreak rose to 11 and California reported the first fatality outside Washington state, a day after lawmakers approved an $8.3 billion bill to combat the outbreak, Reuters said.

The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 2.5 points to 34.54.

The benchmark U.S. Treasury yield hit a record low as traders bet on further monetary easing after an emergency interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve earlier this week.

"With bonds surging and yields at historic lows, concerns are we will get some kind of economic slowdown and it may be worse than initially factored in," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

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