WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly lower in morning trading on Thursday after ending the previous session roughly flat. Following the mixed close seen on Wednesday, the major averages have all moved to the downside on the day.
In recent trading, the major averages have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 194.48 points or 0.7 percent at 28,539.97, the Nasdaq is down 72.86 points or 0.8 percent at 9,202.30 and the S&P 500 is down 27.01 points or 0.8 percent at 3,246.39.
Renewed concerns about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak are contributing to the weakness on Wall Street as the death toll continues to rise.
According to Chinese health officials, the coronavirus outbreak has killed at least 170 people and infected more than 8,100.
The cases of the mysterious new coronavirus worldwide now outnumber the infections saw during the entire SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003.
Some companies have already started to warn about the impact of the outbreak on their first quarter corporate results.
A steep drop by shares of Facebook (FB) is also weighing the markets, with the social media giant moving sharply lower after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results but warning of slower growth.
On the other hand, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) have moved notably higher after the software giant reported fiscal second quarter results that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Traders have largely shrugged off a report from the Commerce Department showing U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter continued at the same pace as in the previous quarter.
The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product climbed by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the third quarter and in line with economist estimates.
The pace of GDP growth was unchanged as a downturn in imports, an acceleration in government spending, and a smaller decrease in non-residential investment were offset by a larger decrease in private inventory investment and a slowdown in consumer spending.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits decreased from an upwardly revised level in the week ended January 25th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 216,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 211,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Tobacco stocks have moved sharply lower in morning trading, dragging the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index down by 2.4 percent to a three-month intraday low.
Altria (MO) is leading the sector lower after the tobacco producer reported fourth quarter earnings in line with analyst estimates but on weaker than expected revenues.
Substantial weakness has also emerged among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent drop by the S&P Chemical Sector Index.
Chemical giant DuPont (DD) is posting a steep loss after reporting fourth quarter earnings that met expectations but provided disappointing guidance.
Transportation, steel and biotechnology stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, while software stocks are bucking the downtrend following the upbeat results from Microsoft.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plunged by 2.6 percent.
The major European markets have also shown significant moves to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index has slumped by 1.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 1.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.4 basis points at 1.550 percent.
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