NEW YORK, Jan 21 — Wall Street stocks joined other global equity markets today in declining on news of a new virus outbreak in China, pulling back from records.
Leading US indices were down modestly following reports of the illness, which has produced a death toll of six in almost 300 known cases.
Earnings takes centre stage during the holiday-shortened week, with reports from Netflix, American Airlines and Procter & Gamble, among others.
US markets were closed yesterday because of the Martin Luther King holiday.
About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 per cent at 29,312.37.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.2 per cent to 3,322.11, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent to 9,379.05.
Major US indices finished last week at all-time highs following the signing of a partial US-China trade agreement.
Other positive factors have included solid US economic data and accommodative monetary policy.
Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund cut the global growth estimate for 2020 to 3.3 per cent, 0.1 percentage point lower than in the prior report released in October, noting an improvement in the US-China trade picture but pointing to weakness in India. — AFP
