Stocks mostly flat amid virus worry
Major U.S. stock indexes ended little changed Wednesday after an early rebound rally faded in the final minutes of trading.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite eked out gains, while the Dow Jones industrial average finished slightly lower. Gains by technology, financial and healthcare companies mainly outweighed losses in industrial, energy, real estate and other sectors.
Investors had their eye on an international effort by health authorities to monitor and contain a deadly virus outbreak in China that has spread to the United States and three other countries.
China and other nations ramped up screenings for fever on planes and at airports. The measures appeared to provide some reassurance to Wall Street the day after financial markets sold off over fears that the outbreak in the world’s second-largest economy could spread, hurting tourism and ultimately economic growth and corporate profits.
“The coronavirus fear that permeated stocks yesterday has subsided some, and you see some of those stocks that were affected negatively yesterday rebounding,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.96 point, or less than 0.1%, to 3,321.75. The index was up as much as 0.5% earlier in the day. The Dow ended down 9.77 points, or less than 0.1%, at 29,186.27. The Nasdaq edged up 12.96 points, or 0.1%, to 9,383.77. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks slipped 1.44 points, or 0.1%, to 1,684.46.
Bond prices fell. The 10year Treasury yield rose to 1.77% from 1.76%.
The coronavirus has been confirmed in five countries: China, the U.S., Thailand, Japan and South Korea. As of Wednesday, more than 500 people were confirmed infected with the virus and 17 had died from it. The virus can cause pneumonia and other severe respiratory symptoms.
IBM was among the big gainers in the technology sector Wednesday, climbing 3.4% after it reported surprisingly strong fourthquarter results and issued a solid profit forecast for 2020.
Capital One Financial climbed 4.5% after the credit card issuer and bank reported surprisingly good fourth-quarter earnings.
Netflix slid 3.6% after the entertainment company gave investors a weak forecast for new subscribers during the first quarter.
Although only about 10% of S&P 500 companies have reported results for the last three months of 2019, early indications are encouraging. Of the companies that have reported, 78.4% topped analysts’ forecasts for profits, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.