Wall Street S&P500 Tumbles Most Since October As Coronavirus Rocks Market

Wall Street's months-long resilience against a weak global economy appeared to be threatened when the top barometer for US stocks fell its most in a day since October as China's coronavirus health scare sent investors worldwide scurrying from equities.

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) Wall Street's months-long resilience against a weak global economy appeared to be threatened when the top barometer for US stocks fell its most in a day since October as China's coronavirus health scare sent investors worldwide scurrying from equities.

The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P500), the leading index for the top 500 companies on the New York Stock Exchange, closed down 0.9 percent at 3,295 on Friday, backing away from Wednesday's record high of 3,338. While the drop was relatively modest by global stock market standards, it was nevertheless the sharpest one-day decline for the S&P since October 8.

Aside from the S&P500, Wall Street's two other key stock indexes, the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down on Friday. The technology-heavy Nasdaq also fell 0.9 percent to 9,315, after an all-time high at 9,439 earlier this week. The Dow, Wall Street's broadest equities barometer, lost 0.6% to finish at 28,990.

Now, there are questions on how resilient that run will be as the longer-term impact of the coronavirus remains unknown.

"The market is in nervous mode right now," Gregory Faranello, head of US rates at AmeriVet Securities, was quoted saying by CNBC.

"We're in one of those pockets of time with risk assets and rates saying central bank liquidity is abundant, but there are still risks out there we need to pay attention to. It's not clear how those risks are going to play out."

Global stocks have taken it on the chin since the coronavirus spread from China this month, causing fears of a health scare as bad as the SARS -- another Chinese-originated health scare that caused major economic disruptions in 2003.

The coronavirus has so far killed 26 people, all in China, and caused government clampdowns across 10 cities that has affected up to 40 million people. Travel restrictions have also caused havoc ahead of China's biggest festival, the Lunar New Year, and hurt airline and tourism stocks, with even Shanghai Disneyland closed for precaution.

The United States, meanwhile, reported its second coronavirus case on Friday, saying a woman from Illinois was found infected after traveling back from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the infection. Earlier this week, a man from Washington state has become the first US person to contract the virus upon returning from Wuhan.