NEW YORK, Feb 25 — Wall Street stocks advanced early today, stabilising from the prior session’s rout as markets continued to monitor the spread of the coronavirus.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 per cent at 28,032.20. Yesterday, the blue-chip index suffered its worst session in more than two years amid fears the virus will derail global growth.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent at 3,232.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 9,258.28.
The virus’ death toll reached some 2,660 in China, while major public events were canceled in South Korea and Italy following outbreaks in those countries.
Analysts pointed to bargain-hunting as a powerful incentive for the benign beginning to today’s session in spite of anxiety over the outbreak. The market will consider later today a report on US consumer confidence.
Dow member Home Depot climbed 2.3 per cent after reporting higher fourth-quarter earnings following a 5.2 per cent jump in comparable sales, topping estimates.
But Mastercard dropped 1.1 per cent as it forecast that first-quarter sales growth would be two to three percentage points below its prior projection due to the hit to cross-border traffic and e-commerce from the coronavirus.
United Airlines shed 0.9 per cent as it withdrew its full-year profit forecast, citing uncertainty from the virus. United has lost 100 per cent of its near-term travel demand to China and about 75 per cent of demand to the rest of its trans-Pacific routes. — AFP
