Stocks fall again after Dow’s 1,000-point drop on coronavirus fears
US stocks continued a massive selloff Tuesday as a benchmark bond yield slid to a record low amid fears about the growing coronavirus outbreak.
The major US stock indices failed to sustain a slight rebound after the opening bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average — which suffered its worst single-day drop in two years on Monday — dropped as much as 313.96 points, or 1.1 percent to 27,646.84 after climbing 0.6 percent at the open.
The S&P 500 rose also 0.6 percent in early trading but later sank 1.2 percent, or 39.06 points, to a low of 3,186.83 after erasing its gains for the year on Monday.
The Nasdaq composite also tumbled nearly 1.2 percent, shedding 109.21 points to hit a low of 9,112.07 following a 1 percent jump after the open.
And US Treasury bond yields continued to fall, indicating investors are still running to safe havens amid continued worries about the spread of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2,700 people worldwide.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slid more than 5 basis points to a new low of 1.32 percent, passing the previous intraday low of 1.325 percent set in July 2016.
The 30-year Treasury yield was recently down about 3.3 basis points at 1.804 percent after hitting a new record low Monday.
The continued drop in the bond yield is fueling the selloff in the stock market in addition to investors’ continued anxiety about the coronavirus, said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Minneapolis-based Leuthold Group.
“We’re in a pretty good panic mode right now,” Paulsen said. “We’re sort of extrapolating to the worst case pandemic fear.”
Stock indexes continued to climb last week before reports over the weekend that the coronavirus crisis was worsening in countries such as South Korea, Italy and Iran. The World Health Organization urged countries Tuesday to ready their defenses against the virus, saying it is “literally knocking at the door.”
Worries persisted about the outbreak despite some strong corporate earnings reports appearing to lift traders’ spirits early in the day.
Home Depot shares jumped as much as 3 percent to $246.97 following the open after the Dow member hardware chain beat profit and sales estimates.
And computer giant HP, an S&P 500 company, saw shares rise 7.3 percent to a high of $23.85 after the company announced cost-cutting efforts and a stock buyback as it fights a $35 billion takeover bid from rival Xerox.
With Post wires