· Wall Street falls more slowly as investors parse coronavirus fears
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 123.77 points, or 0.46%, to 26,957.59, the S&P 500 dropped 11.82 points to 3,116.39 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.16 points, or 0.17%, to end at 8,980.78.
The S&P 500 fell for a fifth straight day on Wednesday and while its decline was slower than the last few days, the session was volatile as investors reacted to headlines about coronavirus and sought to gauge its economic fallout.
Adding to pressure was a warning from U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials that the outbreak was on a path to becoming a pandemic, according to a report.
Many investors were cautious about making any big bets without more clarity on the spread of the virus.
The Dow ended the day 8.8% below its recent record close, reached Feb. 12 while the S&P 500 was just under 8% off its record high reached last Wednesday. Nasdaq finished 8.5% below its recent record.
· Dow futures fall more than 170 points on report of first US coronavirus case of unknown origin
U.S. stock futures traded lower on Wednesday night even as President Donald Trump tried to assuage concerns over the coronavirus as The Washington Post reported the first U.S. coronavirus case of unknown origin was confirmed in Northern California.
Dow futures traded fell 170 points and indicated a loss of nearly 200 points at Thursday’s open. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures slid more than 0.7% each.
Worries over how the coronavirus will impact corporate profits and global economic growth have roiled the U.S. stock market this week as the number of confirmed cases increases. South Korea has confirmed a total of more than 1,200 cases. About 400 people have contracted the virus in Italy.
Through Wednesday’s close, the Dow has lost more than 2,000 points this week. The 30-stock average is also on pace for its worst percentage-point weekly performance since 2008, down 7% over that time.
The major averages are also more than 8% below the record highs set earlier this month.
· Microsoft warns it will miss guidance for segment that includes Windows because of coronavirus
Microsoft shares fell 2% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company said it doesn’t expect to meet the quarterly revenue guidance it previously provided for the segment that includes Windows.
The move comes during a week that has seen a market selloff amid fears about the virus. Last week Apple disclosed that it did not expect to reach its own quarterly revenue guidance as a result of impact from COVID-19. Earlier this week HP, one of the biggest sellers of Windows PCs, said that corporate updates to Windows 10 could slip into future quarters.
“Although we see strong Windows demand in line with our expectations, the supply chain is returning to normal operations at a slower pace than anticipated at the time of our Q2 earnings call,” Microsoft said in a statement. “As a result, for the third quarter of fiscal year 2020, we do not expect to meet our More Personal Computing segment guidance as Windows OEM and Surface are more negatively impacted than previously anticipated.”
· Trump says ‘quite a bit’ of sell-off is fear a Democrat will win election, along with coronavirus
President Donald Trump said in a press conference Wednesday that he believes the stock market will recover its steep, multiday losses and said that fears a Democrat could win the election contributed substantially to the sell-off along with the coronavirus.
The coronavirus, which began in Wuhan, China, has spread across the globe in recent weeks and sparked fears that it could hamper global economic activity if unchecked by effective government intervention. Those concerns, in turn, triggered a severe decline in U.S. equities to start the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plunged 2,034 points, more than 7%, since the opening of trade Monday morning and remains on track for its worst week since October 2008 and the financial crisis. The S&P 500 is down a similar 6.6% for the week, on pace for its worst week since 2011.
· Japan shares drop more than 1% in early trade as concerns over coronavirus outbreak grow
Asia Pacific markets dropped Thursday morning as investors remained cautious over the fast-spreading new coronavirus that has infected more than 81,000 people and killed over 2,700.
Most of the people infected and killed by the disease were from China. However, the number of cases outside the country has surged in recent weeks — especially in places like South Korea, Italy, and Iran. That’s led to global sell-off, including in the U.S. where the S&P 500 wiped out $1.7 trillion in just two sessions.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.31% in early trade while the Topix index was down 1.27%. The Japanese yen, considered a safe-haven asset, traded at 110.25 versus the dollar, strengthening from levels above 111.00 earlier in the week.
In South Korea, the Kospi traded fractionally lower ahead of the Bank of Korea’s interest rate decision announcement due around 9 a.m. HK/SIN. The central bank is expected to lower its policy rate to a record low, according to a Reuters poll, amid a recent spike in the number of infection cases in the country — jumping from around 31 to over 1,000 in a little more than a week.
South Korea now has the most number of confirmed cases outside China, where the outbreak was first reported.
Australian shares did not fare well either, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 down 0.36% as shares of major banks in the country sold off.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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