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* Tech stocks lead Wall St lower in late morning trade
* E*Trade on pace for best day in more than a decade
* ViacomCBS slumps after earnings disappointment
* Indexes down: Dow 0.57%, S&P 0.57%, Nasdaq 0.97%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh
Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes fell on Thursday,
dragged down by technology heavyweights, as investors fretted
over the rising number of coronavirus cases in China and other
countries as well as the potential economic damage from the
epidemic.
Indexes dropped sharply in late morning trade, with some
traders attributing the move to a Global Times report that a
central Beijing hospital had reported 36 new cases, leading many
to fear a potential explosion of infections in the capital.
"The story suggests that the virus has spread to medical
workers and people who help clean hospitals, so the markets are
shook up by that," said Keith Bliss, senior vice-president at
Cuttone & Co in New York.
Sentiment was already weak after Japan reported two new
deaths and South Korea reported a rise in new infections.
Research also suggested that the virus was spreading faster than
previously thought. "The market got well ahead of itself. The coronavirus thing
is not over by any stretch," said Ken Polcari, senior market
strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in Jupiter, Florida.
Recent policy easing by China, a largely
better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings season and hopes
that the economic jolt from the coronavirus will be short-lived
have pushed Wall Street's main indexes to new highs in recent
weeks. At 1:13 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 165.96 points, or 0.57%, at 29,182.07, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 19.41 points, or 0.57%, at 3,366.74. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 95.16 points, or 0.97%, at 9,722.02.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT declined 1.2%, the most among
seven of the 11 major S&P sectors trading lower.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O and Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O dropped about 1% each and weighed the most on the
benchmark index.
In corporate news, ViacomCBS Inc VIAC.O slumped 17.1% as
its earnings fell short of revenue and profit expectations in
its first quarterly earnings results since closing its merger.
E*Trade ETFC.O jumped 24.1% after Morgan Stanley MS.N
offered to buy it in a $13 billion stock deal, the biggest
acquisition by a Wall Street bank since the financial crisis.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 35 new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 121 new highs and 50 new lows.