US STOCKS-Wall Street pares losses on positive coronavirus news

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* WHO says 'too early' to declare virus an emergency
* Gilead explores Ebola drug as possible coronavirus
treatment
* Travelers, Comcast sink after results
* Indexes: Dow down 0.18%, S&P off 0.03%, Nasdaq up 0.09%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street struggled for
direction on Thursday as investors digested mixed earnings and
developing news about the coronavirus outbreak emanating from
China.
Healthcare and financial shares helped pull stocks into the
red through much of the session.
But news that Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O was assessing its
experimental Ebola drug as a possible treatment for the virus
helped stocks pare their losses, and pushed the Nasdaq into
positive territory.
Health officials in China put millions of people on lockdown
in efforts to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has so far
claimed 18 lives, but the World Health Organization (WHO)
announced it was "a bit too early" to declare the virus a global
health emergency.
"It feels like the coronavirus story is a convenient excuse
to take a little profit, sit back and reassess," David
Lafferty, chief market strategist at Nataxis Investment Managers
in Boston. "The indexes have become so over bought it feels like
it needed a little bit of a breather and I think that's what the
coronavirus (sell-off) is really about."
The outbreak has strained global equity markets, just as
millions of Chinese are preparing to travel ahead of the Lunar
New Year. Additionally, a spate of earnings reports, while beating
Street estimates in many cases, have failed to impress
investors.
"The market is pricing a real turn in earnings for 2020,"
Lafferty added. "If you tell me that companies are meeting
estimates and the guidance is still positive it tells me that
expectations were higher than people thought."
Fourth-quarter reporting season gathers steam, with 74
companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 67.6% have
beat consensus expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
Analysts now see fourth-quarter earnings contracting by 0.7%
from a year ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 51.28 points,
or 0.18%, to 29,134.99, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.93 points, or
0.03%, to 3,320.82 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 8.26
points, or 0.09%, to 9,392.03.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, six were trading in
the red. Healthcare .SPXHC was the biggest percentage loser,
while industrials .SPLRCI enjoyed the largest gain.
Procter & Gamble Co PG.N results fell short of analyst
expectations for the first time in five quarters, sending the
consumer products company's stock down 1.0%. Insurance bellwether Travelers Cos Inc TRV.N reported
better-than-expected quarterly profit, with underwriting gains
tripling and catastrophe losses falling. Nevertheless, the
company's shares were down 5.3%, and were the biggest drag on
the blue-chip Dow. Comcast Corp CMCSA.O beat Street estimates but lost more
subscribers than analysts expected, sending its shares down
3.6%. Freeport McMoRan FCX.N results also came in above
expectations, but investors focused on the mining company's drop
in Indonesia production. Its stock fell 5.6%. Among winners, Union Pacific Corp UNP.N gained 3.1% after
the rail operator said the Phase 1 U.S.-China trade pact should
reverse slumping volumes. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.23-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.23-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 42 new lows.