US STOCKS-Wall Street loses ground as China virus spooks investors

© Reuters. US STOCKS-Wall Street loses ground as China virus spooks investors

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* Airlines, travel stocks hit by China virus fears

* Boeing the biggest drag on Dow

* IMF cuts global growth projections

* Indexes down: Dow 0.59%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.24%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds dateline)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street backed away from

all-time highs on Tuesday as investors returned from a holiday

weekend to face a viral outbreak in China and a downbeat global

growth outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

All three major U.S. stock averages were down following

several days of record closing highs and their best one-week

advance in months.

The indexes extended their losses after the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. case of

the coronavirus, which has now killed six people in China.

"The fear is this could mushroom into an epidemic that could

cut into economic activity," said Peter Cardillo, chief market

economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "If it

turns into an epidemic, who's going to fly?"

Indeed, with the outbreak occurring just before the Chinese

lunar new year, the news hit travel-related stocks the hardest.

The NYSE Arca Airline index .XAL dropped 3.7%.

United Airlines UAL.O was down 5.3%, while Carnival Corp

CCL.N dipped 2.6%.

Hotel and casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp LVS.N and

Wynn Resorts Ltd WYNN.O , both of which have sizable operations

in China, were down 5.0% and 6.6%, respectively.

Booking.com owner Booking Holdings Inc BKNG.O and

TripAdvisor Inc TRIP.O were both off more than 2%.

Steel stocks, which have a sizable exposure to China, also

fell. United States Steel Corp X.N was down 6.1%.

Boeing Co BA.N weighed heaviest on the blue-chip Dow, its

shares falling 5.5% following reports the planemaker's 737 MAX

might not win approval to return to service until June or July.

In other news, the IMF trimmed its global economic growth

forecasts for 2020 and 2021, with Managing Director Kristalina

Georgiev citing lasting impact from the bruising U.S.-China

trade war and sharper-than-expected slowdowns in India and other

emerging markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 174.19 points,

or 0.59%, to 29,173.91, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.22 points, or

0.25%, to 3,321.4 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 22.07

points, or 0.24%, to 9,366.88.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 six were trading in

the red, with energy .SPNY and industrials .SPLRCI suffering

the largest percentage drops.

Real estate .SPLRCR led the gainers.

Fourth quarter earnings season continues apace, with Netflix

Inc NFLX.O and International Business Machines Corp IBM.N

expected to post results after the bell.

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co HAL.N disclosed a

$2.2 billion charge for asset impairments during the quarter,

pressured by weakening North American shale activity. Excluding

the charge, the company beat earnings estimates. Its shares rose

Netflix Inc NFLX.O shares were down 1.3% ahead of its

quarterly report.

Members-only chain store Costco Wholesale Corp COST.O

jumped 2.5% after Oppenheimer upgraded the shares to

"outperform." Intel Corp INTC.O was up 2.0% after three brokers raised

their price targets for the chipmaker's shares. Electric automaker Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 6.2% after new

Street Research upped its price target to $800 per share.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a

1.62-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.69-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 87 new 52-week highs and one new low; the

Nasdaq Composite recorded 125 new highs and 33 new lows.