INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
US stock indexes slipped on Tuesday as worries about the fallout from a deadly virus outbreak in China and a gloomy growth outlook from the
IMF paused a record-setting rally on Wall Street.
The developments soured the mood for United States investors returning from a long
Strong data, the signing of the Phase 1 United States -China trade deal and an upbeat start to fourth-quarter earnings season had sent the
main indexes to fresh highs on Friday.
Chinese officials on Tuesday confirmed the new coronavirus outbreak took six lives and that it could
coronavirus outbreak that killed nearly 800 people in 2002-03.
With the virus spreading just ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays, travel
stocks including Delta Air Lines Inc, United Airlines Holdings Inc and American Airlines Group Inc fell between 1.5% and 2.6%.
Hotel and
casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts Ltd, both of which have large operations in China, dropped about 5%.
Booking.com
owner Booking Holdings and Tripadvisor both fell more than 2%.
"(The virus outbreak in China) seems to be the biggest negative," said Scott
Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St
Petersburg, Florida.
"But it's more of a global sentiment
We may see United States markets try to spit it out because it doesn't have that much of an impact on United States economy."
At 10:09 a.m
ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.15% at 29,302.69
The S-P 500 fell 0.23% to 3,322.12 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.09% to 9,380.87.
Another cause for concern was the International
Monetary Fund trimming its global growth forecasts for 2020 and 2021
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that while a slowdown in global growth appeared to have bottomed out, there was no
rebound in sight.
Halliburton Co rose 2.2% after the oilfield service provider beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly adjusted
earnings.
Morgan Stanley slid 2.8% after Citigroup downgraded the stock to "neutral", saying the shares were fairly valued.
Declining issues
outnumbered advancers for a 1.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.37-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S-P index recorded 66 new 52-week highs and
no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 86 new highs and 15 new lows.
