US STOCKS-Wall St slides as pandemic tag, gag order report rattle investors

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* WHO calls coronavirus a pandemic
* Boeing biggest drag on the Dow
* Rate-sensitive U.S. lenders tumble
* Nike falls after rivals flag sales weakness
* Indexes down: Dow 4.94%, S&P 4.55%, Nasdaq 4.28%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh and Sanjana Shivdas
March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes extended their
declines on Wednesday after the World Health Organization
classified the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.
A Reuters report that the White House has ordered federal
health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as
classified in an unusual step compounded the skittish sentiment
on trading floors. "If you feel the need to embargo information, a lot of
people don't like that, because that makes you think they're
concerned that the numbers are getting increasingly worse, so
bad that they feel they need to shield the American public from
that information," said Sal Arnuk, partner and cofounder, Themis
Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
Expectations that President Donald Trump would announce
"major" support measures helped Wall Street claw back losses on
Tuesday from a bruising sell-off at the start of the week on the
back of a collapse in oil prices.
But there have been no announcements, even as the
administration discusses measures ranging from tax relief, loan
guarantees, reimbursing workers for lost pay and support for the
hard hit industries. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index is nearly 19% below its
all-time peak hit on Feb. 19. If it ends 20% below its record
closing high from just three weeks ago, the index would confirm
a bear market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.94%, the biggest
decliner among the major indexes, also weighed down by a 13.5%
tumble in shares of Boeing Co BA.N . The planemaker plans a
full drawdown of an existing $13.8 billion loan as early as
Friday, a source told Reuters.
The stock is set for its biggest three day drop since the
9/11 attacks.
Rate-sensitive U.S. lenders tumbled, with the banks index
.SPXBK down 4.3%. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected
to cut rates for the second time this month when it meets next
week.
The utilities sector .SPLRCU dropped about 5.4% while
other major S&P sectors shed at least 3.6%.
At 1:17 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 1,235.69 points, or 4.94%, at 23,782.47 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 131.09 points, or 4.55%, at 2,751.14. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 357.38 points, or 4.28%, at 7,986.87.
Nike Inc NKE.N fell 6.5% after rivals Adidas ADSGn.DE
and Puma PUMG.DE flagged a sales hit in China due to the
outbreak.
DXC Technology Co DXC.N edged higher after the IT and
consulting services provider said it would sell its healthcare
technology business to private equity firm Veritas Capital for
$5 billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 12.61-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and for a 6.83-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and 79 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded five new highs and 541 new lows.

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