US STOCKS-Futures plunge on virus fears as California declares emergency

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* Futures down: Dow 1.62%, S&P 1.77%, Nasdaq 1.73%

By Medha Singh
March 5 (Reuters) - Coronavirus fears looked set to drive
another steep drop for U.S. stock markets on Thursday after
California declared an emergency, while airlines shares were
hammered by an industry sales warning as the outbreak cripples
travel demand.
The S&P 500 .SPX had ended 4% higher on Wednesday as Joe
Biden's near sweep at the Democratic presidential primaries
distracted investors from the widening spread of the pathogen in
the United States. But fears about economic growth returned to the forefront as
the U.S. death toll from the flu-like virus rose to 11 and
California declared a state of emergency after the first U.S.
fatality outside Washington state. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved an
$8.3 billion bill on Wednesday to combat the spread of the
outbreak.
A sales warning by the International Air Transport
Association that the epidemic could hit revenue at passenger
airlines by up to $113 billion sent shares in American Airlines
Group Inc AAL.O , Delta Air Lines DAL.N , Southwest Airlines
LUV.N and Spirit Airlines SAVE.N down more than 3%.
Southwest also issued its own revenue warning on Thursday,
while United Airlines UAL.O and JetBlue Airways JBLU.O cut
flights and implemented cost controls.
At 7:24 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 438 points,
or 1.62%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 55.25 points, or
1.77% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 153.5 points, or
1.73%.
The benchmark S&P 500 index is still about 7.5% below its
record close on Feb. 19 as the Federal Reserve's emergency
interest rate cut spooked investors about the hit to the
domestic economy, even as traders bet on further rate cuts.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YR=RR yield dipped
below 1% again on Thursday, while shares in Bank of America Corp
BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N , JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N ,
Goldman Sachs GS.N , Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N and Morgan
Stanley MS.N fell between 1.9% and 2.5%. US/
Focus now shifts to the weekly jobless report due at 8:30
a.m. ET and the crucial non-farm payrolls report due on Friday,
after strong figures on private jobs and the services sector
showed resilience in the U.S. economy.