INSIDE: Fears of coronavirus outbreak rattle stocks of health care companies.
Health care companies led a broad slide in U.S. stocks Friday as increased fears over the spread of a deadly outbreak of coronavirus rattled markets.
The S&P 500 had its worst day since early October and snapped a two-week winning streak.
The sell-off followed news that a Chicago woman has become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new virus from China. Health authorities worldwide have been taking measures to try to contain and monitor the coronavirus outbreak.
“It really is a reaction to the widening nature of what’s going on with the coronavirus,” said Lisa Erickson, head of traditional investments at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “People are concerned about, ultimately, the impact on Chinese growth and perhaps global growth.”
The S&P 500 index fell 30.07 points, or 0.9%, to 3,295.47. The index had been down as much as 1.3% earlier.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 170.36 points, or 0.6%, to 28,989.73. It briefly slid more than 316 points.
The Nasdaq composite lost 87.57 points, or 0.9%, to 9,314.91. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks slumped 22.78 points, or 1.4%, to 1,662.23.
The stock market has been mostly racking up gains going back to last fall. Before this week, the S&P 500 had only posted a weekly decline three times since October. Even with this week’s decline of 1%, the benchmark index is still up 2% for the month.
Jitters over the potential economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak intensified Friday as the tally of confirmed cases continued to climb, rising to more than 850. Twenty-six people have died, all in China. The Centers for Disease Control said over 2,000 returning travelers had been screened at U.S. airports and 63 patients in 22 states were being tested.
The virus can cause pneumonia and other severe respiratory symptoms. The World Health Organization has so far held off on declaring the situation a global emergency, which would
bring more money and resources to fight it, but also could trigger economically damaging restrictions on trade and travel.