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* Boeing falls, largest drag on Dow Jones index
* Rate-sensitive U.S. lenders tumble
* Nike falls after rivals Adidas, Puma flag weakness
* Indexes down: Dow 4.59%, S&P 4.23%, Nasdaq 3.82%
(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Sanjana Shivdas
March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes tumbled on Wednesday
as investors worried over the absence of immediate measures from
President Donald Trump's administration to counter the economic
fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.59%, the biggest
decliner among the major indexes, also weighed down by a 10%
drop in shares of constituent Boeing Co BA.N . The planemaker
plans a full drawdown of an existing $13.8 billion loan as early
as Friday, a source told Reuters.
Expectations that Trump would announce "major" support
measures helped Wall Street claw back losses on Tuesday from a
bruising sell-off at the start of the week on the back of a
collapse in oil prices. But no concrete measures have been
announced. Meanwhile, the Bank of England became the latest to cut
interest rates as central banks and governments roll out
measures to battle the economic damage from the virus, which has
dented business activity and rattled markets for four weeks now.
"I think a lot of this is largely overblown. My sense is
that you don't have a lot of institutional players," said
Keith Bliss, managing partner and chief executive officer
at iQ Capital (USA) LLC, New York.
"Investor are just kind of sitting back and letting the
market carnage play out...they will step back in when things
seemed to have settled down."
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index is nearly 19% below its
all-time peak hit on Feb. 19. If it closes 20% below its record
closing high from just three weeks ago, the index would confirm
a bear market.
Rate-sensitive U.S. lenders tumbled, with the banks index
.SPXBK down 5.5%. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut
rates for the second time this month when it meets next week.
The energy sector .SPNY dropped about 5.2%, with other
major S&P sectors down at least 3%.
At 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 1,147.39 points, or 4.59%, at 23,870.77, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 121.90 points, or 4.23%, at 2,760.33. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 318.41 points, or 3.82%, at 8,025.85.
Nike Inc NKE.N fell 6.7%, the most among the blue-chip Dow
Industrials components, after rivals Adidas ADSGn.DE and Puma
PUMG.DE flagged a sales hit in China due to the outbreak.
In a bright spot, DXC Technology Co DXC.N rose 2.9% after
the IT and consulting services provider said it would sell its
healthcare technology business to private equity firm Veritas
Capital for $5 billion. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 13.04-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and a 6.52-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and 62 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded four new highs and 432 new lows.
S&P 500 sector performance https://tmsnrt.rs/2VPkNLd
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