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* Dow component Travelers slumps after results
* China virus scare hits casino stocks
* Airlines gain after Southwest, American Airlines earnings
* Indexes slide: Dow 0.39%, S&P 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.14%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes fell on Thursday, as
mounting worries over a coronavirus outbreak in China and
disappointing corporate earnings prompted investors to hit the
brakes after a strong start to the year.
China put millions of people on lockdown in two cities at
the epicentre of the outbreak that has killed 17 people and
infected nearly 600. Fears of the fast-spreading coronavirus hitting the global
economy have knocked world stock markets off record highs this
week, while early earnings reports have brought few surprises to
investors.
"There is some fear that it (coronavirus) appears to be
spreading, and certainly there are some fears about what it is
going to do to the Chinese economic growth," said Scott Ladner,
chief investment officer at Horizon Investments.
"People are generally trading off the assumption of a very
bad outcome."
At 1:23 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 0.39% to 29,071.02.
The S&P 500 .SPX edged 0.26% lower to 3,313.19 and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC slipped 0.14% to 9,371.02.
After taking a hit earlier this week on worries about travel
demand, airline stocks recovered, with Southwest Airlines Co
LUV.N gaining 2.3% and American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O
rising 1.4% after quarterly earnings. Casino and hotel operators including Wynn Resorts Ltd
WYNN.O , Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd MLCO.O and Las
Vegas Sands Corp LVS.N , which draw a large portion of their
revenue from China, were down between 0.% and 4%.
In another sign of caution, the U.S. Conference Board's
index of leading economic indicators fell 0.3% in December
compared with the previous month.
Citi analysts said there has been only one occasion when the
index has slipped below zero and not followed by a recession
within 18 months.
Financial stocks .SPSY were hit by insurer Travelers Cos
Inc's TRV.N 5.4% fall after its executives discussed a
challenging tort lawsuit environment and said losses from those
cases have come in worse than the company's expectations.
Analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to have
dropped 0.7% in the fourth quarter versus a 0.3% fall estimated
at the start of 2019, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Intel Corp INTC.O , set to report after markets close, was
up 1.0%, while Netflix Inc NFLX.O rebounded from losses
sparked by a disappointing forecast.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.59-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 37 new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 69 new highs and 41 new lows.