US STOCKS-Wall St falls on China virus concerns, Facebook earnings

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* Facebook slides as it warns of revenue growth slowing
* Tesla jumps after posting second straight quarterly profit
* Defensive sectors among gainers
* Indexes down: Dow 0.35%, S&P 0.48%, Nasdaq 0.49%

(Changes comment, updates prices)
By Sruthi Shankar and Medha Singh
Jan 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as the
coronavirus epidemic raised fears of a further hit to China's
economy, while weak earnings from Facebook and others added to
the gloom.
Shares of the social media giant FB.O dropped 6.4% after
the company warned of slowing growth as its business matured and
reported a surge in quarterly expenses. The S&P communication services index .SPLRCL fell 1.6%,
the most among the 11 major S&P subsectors. Defensive sectors
such as utilities and consumer staples, considered safer in
times of economic uncertainties, posted slight gains.
The main U.S. stock indexes are on course for their second
weekly declines as the death toll from China's epidemic climbed
to 170, spreading to over 15 countries, disrupting global travel
and leading several companies to suspend operations in China.
The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee is due
to reconvene on Thursday to decide whether to declare the virus
a global emergency.
"We are still in the fear phase. There is not enough
information to know how bad the virus is going to get," said Ed
Keon, chief investment strategist at QMA, a multi-asset manager
in Newark, New Jersey.
"You see an initial drop as investors react to fears of
things going worse than what is actually happening. Usually
things bottom when you get to the worst part."
At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 0.35% at 28,633.02.
The S&P 500 .SPX dropped 0.48% to 3,257.76 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC fell 0.49% to 9,229.46.
Earnings expectations have been improving slowly, with
analysts forecasting a 0.7% rise in fourth-quarter profit for
S&P 500 companies, compared with a 0.6% decline estimated at the
start of the season, according to Refinitiv data.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O gained 2.4% after it beat
expectations for quarterly earnings, driven by Azure cloud
computing revenue growth. Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 10.8% after the maker of electric
cars posted a second straight quarterly profit as vehicle
deliveries hit a record. Altria Inc MO.N slid 4.8% after the tobacco company said
it took another $4 billion charge on its investment in Juul Labs
Inc. Package delivery firm United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N
dropped 4.9% after it forecast full-year earnings below
estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.35-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.74-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 28 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 79 new lows.