US STOCKS-Wall St on record correction pace as pandemic fears loom

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* U.S. stocks eye steepest weekly fall since 2008
* New infections increase outside China
* Microsoft warns of hit to PC business from outbreak
* GS sees no earnings growth for U.S. companies in 2020
* Indexes down: Dow 2.3%, S&P 2.24%, Nasdaq 2.48%

(Updates to late afternoon, adds comment, New York dateline,
changes byline)
By Sinéad Carew
New York, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes
tumbled for the sixth straight session on Thursday with the S&P
500 on track for its fastest correction in history as the global
spread of coronavirus intensified investor uncertainty about the
economic impact.
If the S&P .SPX closes 10% below its record close reached
on Feb. 19 this would be its fastest correction ever, taking
just six trading days. The current record is nine days,
occurring in early 2018, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices
analyst Howard Silverblatt. The S&P was last 10.2% below its
record.
All three major U.S. indexes were set for their steepest
weekly pullback since the global financial crisis, as new
infections reported around the world surpassed those in mainland
China.
Governments battling the epidemics from Iran to Australia
shut schools, canceled big events and stocked up on medical
supplies. And in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention late Wednesday confirmed an infection in
California of unknown origin.
While the indexes pared some losses, the S&P 500 fell as
much as 11.2% from its record close and the Nasdaq .IXIC
dropped 12.2% from its own peak. At its session low, the Dow
Jones Industrials .DJI declined 12.1% from its Feb. 12 closing
high.
Selling eased a bit as the benchmark S&P neared the 3,000
level as round numbers are seen as a support by technical
traders, said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance
Trust Capital Partners in Chicago.
"Catching a falling knife can be done but it's dangerous.
There's a lot of knife catching going on ... People feel this
might be enough. That confidence might be misplaced," he said.
"The path of this scourge is unknown therefore you can't know
the economic impact. You can roll the dice but it's a guess."
At 2:43PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
620.2 points, or 2.3%, to 26,337.39, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
69.71 points, or 2.24%, to 3,046.68 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 222.84 points, or 2.48%, to 8,757.94.
All of the 11 S&P sectors were trading lower with real
estate .SPLRCR , technology .SPLRCT and energy .SPNY
sectors all losing more than 3%.
The NYSE Arca Airline index .XAL dropped 3% on fears about
travel disruptions beyond China, while the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor index .SOX , comprised of China-exposed stocks,
fell 2.4%.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O dropped almost 5% after it warned of
weakness in PC business due to a hit to its supply chain from
the coronavirus, echoing similar statements from Apple Inc
AAPL.O and HP HPQ.N . Industry analysts and economists continued to sound the
alarm as they assessed the fallout of the outbreak, with Goldman
Sachs saying U.S. firms will generate no earnings growth in
2020. Bucking the trend, 3M Co MMM.N was up 3% after an analyst
upgraded the stock, citing possible benefit from higher sales of
respirator masks during the outbreak.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
4.38-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.60-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 97 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 451 new lows.