US STOCKS-Wall Street loses ground as China virus spooks investors

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* Airlines, travel stocks hit by China virus fears
* Boeing the biggest drag on Dow
* IMF cuts global growth projections
* Indexes down: Dow 0.59%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.24%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds dateline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street backed away from
all-time highs on Tuesday as investors returned from a holiday
weekend to face a viral outbreak in China and a downbeat global
growth outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
All three major U.S. stock averages were down following
several days of record closing highs and their best one-week
advance in months.
The indexes extended their losses after the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. case of
the coronavirus, which has now killed six people in China.
"The fear is this could mushroom into an epidemic that could
cut into economic activity," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "If it
turns into an epidemic, who's going to fly?"
Indeed, with the outbreak occurring just before the Chinese
lunar new year, the news hit travel-related stocks the hardest.

The NYSE Arca Airline index .XAL dropped 3.7%.
United Airlines UAL.O was down 5.3%, while Carnival Corp
CCL.N dipped 2.6%.
Hotel and casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp LVS.N and
Wynn Resorts Ltd WYNN.O , both of which have sizable operations
in China, were down 5.0% and 6.6%, respectively.
Booking.com owner Booking Holdings Inc BKNG.O and
TripAdvisor Inc TRIP.O were both off more than 2%.
Steel stocks, which have a sizable exposure to China, also
fell. United States Steel Corp X.N was down 6.1%.
Boeing Co BA.N weighed heaviest on the blue-chip Dow, its
shares falling 5.5% following reports the planemaker's 737 MAX
might not win approval to return to service until June or July.
In other news, the IMF trimmed its global economic growth
forecasts for 2020 and 2021, with Managing Director Kristalina
Georgiev citing lasting impact from the bruising U.S.-China
trade war and sharper-than-expected slowdowns in India and other
emerging markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 174.19 points,
or 0.59%, to 29,173.91, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.22 points, or
0.25%, to 3,321.4 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 22.07
points, or 0.24%, to 9,366.88.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 six were trading in
the red, with energy .SPNY and industrials .SPLRCI suffering
the largest percentage drops.
Real estate .SPLRCR led the gainers.
Fourth quarter earnings season continues apace, with Netflix
Inc NFLX.O and International Business Machines Corp IBM.N
expected to post results after the bell.
Oilfield services company Halliburton Co HAL.N disclosed a
$2.2 billion charge for asset impairments during the quarter,
pressured by weakening North American shale activity. Excluding
the charge, the company beat earnings estimates. Its shares rose
0.1%
Netflix Inc NFLX.O shares were down 1.3% ahead of its
quarterly report.
Members-only chain store Costco Wholesale Corp COST.O
jumped 2.5% after Oppenheimer upgraded the shares to
"outperform." Intel Corp INTC.O was up 2.0% after three brokers raised
their price targets for the chipmaker's shares. Electric automaker Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 6.2% after new
Street Research upped its price target to $800 per share.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.62-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 87 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 125 new highs and 33 new lows.