Stocks edge mostly lower after China virus cases spike

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street on Thursday as investors turned cautious following a surge in cases of a new virus in China that threatens to crimp economic growth and hurt businesses worldwide.

The modest losses snapped a three-day streak of record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite. The selling marked only the second day this month that the market has declined.

Investors largely set aside worries about the economic impact of the virus outbreak the past two weeks. Markets rallied this week partly because of reports that the number of new cases of the new virus in China had declined.

Hopes that the spread of the virus had peaked were dashed Thursday, when China reported a sharp rise in cases and deaths after the hardest-hit province of Hubei took a new approach to classifying and diagnosing the virus.

The S&P 500 index dropped 5.51 points, or 0.2%, to 3,373.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 128.11 points, or 0.4%, to 29,423.31. It was down as much as 205 points earlier.

The Nasdaq fell 13.99 points, or 0.1%, to 9,711.97. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 4.36 points, or 0.3%, to 1,693.74.

Markets in Europe and Asia finished mostly lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 1.62%.

The major U.S. indexes wobbled for much of the day as investors weighed company earnings reports and the latest news on the virus outbreak in China.

The change in how Hubei determines and reports cases of the new virus pushed the number of cases worldwide to more than 60,000.

The spike came after two days in which the number of new cases dropped.

Businesses have already been hurting due to the outbreak, and more of them are warning that the effects will linger through the year. Organizers of the world’s biggest mobile technology fair canceled the event, set to take place in Spain, because of concerns over the outbreak.

Benchmark crude oil rose 25 cents to settle at $51.42 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 55 cents to close at $56.34 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline was unchanged at $1.58 per gallon. Heating oil was also unchanged at $1.68 per gallon. Natural gas fell 1 cent to $1.83 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $7.70 to $1,575.10 per ounce, silver rose 12 cents to $17.60 per ounce and copper rose 1 cent to $2.62 per pound.

The dollar fell to 109.79 Japanese yen from 110.08 yen Wednesday. The euro weakened to $1.0843 from $1.0867.