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* Futures down: Dow 0.69%, S&P 0.67%, Nasdaq 0.79%
By Medha Singh
Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on
Thursday, a day after Wall Street closed at record levels, as a
spike in the number of deaths and new cases related to the
coronavirus outbreak in China sent investors scurrying to
safe-haven assets.
Gold and the Japanese yen were in demand as a change in a
diagnostic method pushed the number of new infections in Hubei
province of China to 14,840 on Thursday, up from 2,015 cases
reported on Wednesday while the death toll climbed to 1,367.
Fresh uncertainty about the scale of the epidemic looked set
to derail a rally in stocks, a day after investors bought on
signs that the virus-spread was slowing.
The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC have set closing
highs in the past three sessions while the Dow Jones Industrial
.DJI finished at an all-time high on Wednesday.
Adding to the downbeat mood was a lackluster revenue and
profit forecast from Dow component Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O .
The network gear maker's shares dropped 4.8% in premarket
trading. NetApp Inc NTAP.N tumbled 11.7% as the data storage
equipment maker's current-quarter profit forecast fell short of
expectations.
At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 205 points,
or 0.69%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 22.5 points, or
0.67% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 76.25 points, or
0.79%.
Losses were broad based with most of the Dow components
trading before the bell in negative territory, barring
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N .
The construction and mining equipment maker's shares edged
0.2% higher after Goldman Sachs upgraded to "buy".
On the economic front, the Labor Department's inflation
report for January is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).
Consumer price index is expected to have edged up 0.2%, same as
in December.