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* Airlines, cruise liners tank on Europe travel ban
* Lack of public health measures in Trump's address spooks
market
* Indexes down: Dow 7.93%, S&P 6.86%, Nasdaq 6.49%
(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh
March 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq cratered
into a bear market on Thursday as a shock move by President
Donald Trump to suspend travel from Europe rattled investors
already shaken by fears of a global recession on the back of a
coronavirus pandemic.
Trading on Wall Street was halted minutes after the opening
bell as the S&P 500 slid 7% and triggered a 15-minute cutout.
The indexes are now more than 24% below their intraday record
highs hit in February.
The announcement knocked the S&P 1500 airlines index
.SPCOMAIR down 10.1% with cruise liners Carnival Corp CCL.N
and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N shedding 17% and 24%,
respectively.
Boeing BA.N slumped another 15% after J.P.Morgan cut its
long-term "overweight" rating on the planemaker's shares. The
stock, already under pressure from the grounded 737 MAX jets,
has lost more than 40% this year on the added hit from the virus
outbreak.
American Airlines AAL.O and United Airlines UAL.O
plummeted over 13%.
"It's not just the fear of the economy going weak, but
basically being on the brink of shutting down," said Dennis
Dick, proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.
"It's mass selling across the board (and) we are pricing in
a potential to go into another financial crisis."
Investors were also unnerved by the absence of targeted
stimulus measures and the lack of details on a public health
response after Trump made no mention of widely expected payroll
tax cuts. Online travel agents Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O and Booking
Holdings Inc BKNG.O , as well as hotel operator Marriott
International MAR.O and casino operator Wynn Resorts WYNN.O
shed more than 10%.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX jumped about 15 points to
its highest since November 2008 at 68.76, as the death toll from
the virus rose to over 4,600 worldwide, according to a Reuters
tally.
At 10:02 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 1,867.08 points, or 7.93%, at 21,686.14, while the S&P
500 .SPX was down 188.00 points, or 6.86%, at 2,553.38. The
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 515.77 points, or 6.49%, at
7,436.28.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 29.70-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and a 24.79-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high and 301 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded one new high and 1,264 new lows.