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* Amazon soars after strong results
* Risk aversion rises as coronavirus spreads globally
* Chicago PMI slides to 4-yr low in January
* Indexes down: Dow 1.67%, S&P 1.44%, Nasdaq 1.13%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar and Ambar Warrick
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main averages tumbled more
than 1% on Friday as mixed corporate earnings added to worries
over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth.
The S&P 500 .SPX is down nearly 3% from its all-time high
hit earlier in January, as businesses struggled with supply
problems from the coronavirus epidemic that has killed 213
people in China and been declared a global emergency.
Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N and American Airlines Group Inc
AAL.O fell about 2% after companies said they would suspend
all U.S.-China flights.
"There is more potential for markets to get affected by the
coronavirus than SARS in 2003," said Seema Shah, chief
strategist at Principal Global Investors.
Economists fear its impact could be bigger than the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people
at an estimated cost of $33 billion to the global economy, since
China's share of the world economy is now far greater.
"Asset prices are a lot more over-valued coming into 2020,
which means they are already very vulnerable to global
sentiment," Shah said.
Stocks were also pressured by data that showed the U.S.
Midwest manufacturing activity index slid to a four-year low in
January, with new orders and production tumbling and producers
forecasting tepid activity in 2020. Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O was a bright spot, surging 8.8% on
better-than-expected results for the holiday-quarter that pushed
it back into the $1 trillion market capitalization club.
Gains in Amazon helped the consumer discretionary index
.SPLRCD rise 1.5%, while all other S&P sectors were in the
red, with energy stocks .SPNY tumbling 3.2%.
Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N
dropped about 4% after disappointing results. Sectors sensitive to global growth such as materials,
technology, industrial and financials fell about 2% each.
At 1:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 480.74 points, or 1.67%, at 28,378.70.
The S&P 500 .SPX dropped 47.27 points, or 1.44%, at
3,236.39 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 105.09
points, or 1.13%, at 9,193.85.
Visa Inc V.N fell 3.4% after its quarterly revenue missed
estimates and the payments network warned of incentives hitting
2020 results. International Business Machines Corp IBM.N gained 4.5%
after it named a new chief executive officer.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 3.24-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 3.69-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 99 new lows.