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* Indexes drop: Dow 3.2%, S&P 3.05%, Nasdaq 3.44%
* Energy, high-growth technology stocks lead slide
* Wall Street's fear gauge surges to over 1-yr high
* Health insurers fall after Bernie Sanders' Nevada victory
(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds New York
dateline)
By Sinéad Carew
New York, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrials was
on track for its biggest daily decline in two years and the S&P
500 fell more than 3% on Monday, as investors fled riskier
assets as fears about the global economic impact of the
coronavirus intensified after a surge in cases outside China.
Several countries including Iran, Italy and South Korea
reported a rise in virus cases over the weekend, fanning fears
of a pandemic that also prompted a rush to safe-haven assets
such as gold and U.S. Treasuries.
A yield curve inversion between the 3-month and 10-year U.S.
Treasuries deepened in a classic recession sign. Adding to
worries, Goldman Sachs slashed its U.S. growth forecast and
predicted a more severe impact from the epidemic, CNBC reported.
US/
The blue-chip Dow .DJI erased its gains for the year,
while the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX was almost 2% below its
intraday record high hit on Thursday. The Nasdaq .IXIC was
almost 6% off its record peak.
All of the 11 major S&P sectors were in the red, led by the
energy sector's 4% decline and followed by a 3.4% drop in
technology stocks .SPLRCT .
Apple Inc AAPL.O slid 3.5% as data showed sales of
smartphones in China tumbled by more than a third in January.
Wall Street's main indexes had notched record highs last
week, partly on optimism that the global economy, supported by
central banks, would be able to snap back after short-term
weakness related to the virus.
The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX , a gauge of investor
anxiety, jumped to its highest level since January 2019.
"There was this underlying concern that was out there, and
obviously over the weekend, it just escalated," said Stacey
Gilbert, portfolio manager for derivatives at Glenmede
Investment Management in Philadelphia.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 929.04 points,
or 3.2%, to 28,063.37, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 101.65 points, or
3.05%, to 3,236.1 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
329.49 points, or 3.44%, to 9,247.10.
China-exposed chipmakers slipped, with the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor index .SOX dropping 4%, while concerns about
growing travel curbs dragged the NYSE Arca Airline Index .XAL
down 6.4%.
The S&P 500 fell below its 50-day moving average and the Dow
slipped below its 100-day moving average, all closely watched
indicators of momentum.
Health insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH.N and
Cigna Corp CI.N dropped around 7% as Bernie Sanders, who backs
the elimination of private health insurance, strengthened his
position for the Democratic presidential nomination with a
victory in the Nevada caucuses. “I think markets are repricing the probability of a Sanders
(nomination),” Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer of Wells
Fargo Wealth & Investment Management said during a conference
call with investors.
In a rare bright spot, Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O , whose
antiviral remdesivir has shown promise in monkeys infected by a
related coronavirus, rose 3.3%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
6.44-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 6.82-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 19 new highs and 147 new lows.
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