Stocks Flat on Second U.S. Case of Coronavirus
January 24,2020 10:37 AM EST
The S&P 500 turned negative on Friday, giving back its gains from earlier in the day after the second U.S. case of the deadly coronavirus was confirmed.
The Dow Jones Industrials slipped 4.85 points in the first hour to 29,155.24
The S&P 500 slumped 6.51 points at 3,319.03
The NASDAQ inched up 0.92 points from Thursday''s all-time high to 9,403.39.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a Chicago resident who traveled to Wuhan — the Chinese city where the coronavirus originated — in December was diagnosed with the sickness.
Shares of United Airlines and American both fell more than 3%. Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts also dropped more than 2% each.
Stocks stared the session on a strong note after the release of better-than-expected earnings from American Express and Intel.
American Express reported a quarterly profit and revenue that beat analyst expectations. Those results were driven in part by strong card fee revenues. The stock gained more than 3%.
Intel, meanwhile, climbed more than 8% after its fourth-quarter numbers topped estimates. The company also gave an optimistic outlook for the first quarter of 2020.
Those results add to what has been a solid start to the earnings season. More than 16% of the S&P 500 has released quarterly results thus far. Of those companies, about 70% have reported better-than-expected earnings
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 1.70% from Thursday''s 1.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.04 to $54.55 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices advanced $5.40 to $1,570.80 U.S. an ounce.
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