Friday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Open Mixed As Coronavirus Fears Grow

Update: 11:10 a.m. EST

Concerns over the coronavirus Friday sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 400 points or 1.42% in late-morning trading, to 28,452.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also were down more than 1% each, with the former losing nearly 100 points and the S&P off 40.

Original story

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Friday as investors remain concerned about the global spread of coronavirus and its potential economic impact.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 143.45 points to 28,715.99 while the S&P 500 fell 6.3 points to 3,277.36 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 20.65 points to 9,319.58.

China’s National Health Commission reported on Friday that 213 people have died from the coronavirus and 9,692 others have been infected. On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared the virus as a global health emergency.

The U.K. Department of Health and Social Care on Friday confirmed Britain’s first two cases of coronavirus.

Goldman Sachs said it expects the outbreak of China’s coronavirus to cut U.S. economic growth by 0.4% in the first quarter, followed by a rebound of 0.3%-0.4% in the second quarter.

“The drag on growth operates mostly through lower tourism from China and lower U.S. goods exports to China,” Goldman Sachs said.

“The outbreak of the coronavirus has added another headwind to the near-term outlook for stocks,” said Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research, said in a note. “Viruses often become less lethal as they mutate because a virus that kills its host is also a virus that kills itself. Unfortunately, in a world of mass travel, a virus can spread across the globe before it has time to lose potency.”

In the U.S., consumer spending increased 0.3% in December, while personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, inflation index rose 0.3% last month, the biggest such gain since last April. The yearly rate of inflation climbed to a one-year high of 1.6%.

Core PCE, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2% in December, while the yearly rate rose to 1.6% from 1.5%.

The employment cost index rose 0.7% in the fourth quarter, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Wages and salaries climbed 2.9% in 2019, down from a 3.1% gain in 2018.

Amazon (AMZN) posted superb earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter.

Markets in mainland China remained closed for the lunar new year holiday, but Hong Kong‘s Hang Seng index dropped 0.52% and Japan’s Nikkei-225 gained 0.99%.

In Europe markets traded lower, as Britain’s FTSE-100 fell 0.71%, France’s CAC-40 tumbled 0.44% and Germany’s DAX dropped 0.4%.

Crude oil futures dropped 0.52% at $51.87 per barrel and Brent crude slipped 0.96% at $56.78. Gold futures fell 0.22%.

The euro rose 0.24% at $1.1059 while the pound sterling gained 0.4% at $1.3146.