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Investor fears about the coronavirus outbreak have sent markets tumbling today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and key tech stocks all taking a hit.
The Dow plunged more than 1,000 points in early morning trading and closed down 3.6%, to 1031.61 points, while the S&P lost almost 3.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index, meanwhile, fell 3.7% thanks partly to big declines in the share price of chipmakers such as Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp., which were down about 4% and 7%, respectively.
The rest of the tech industry didn’t fare much better. Apple Inc., which is particularly exposed to the impact of the coronavirus because most of its manufacturing operations are based in China, saw seen its stock fall almost 4.8%. The iPhone maker earlier warned shareholders that it will likely miss its quarterly revenue guidance because of a combination of supply chain delays and lower consumer demand.
Apple’s stock decline contributed to a big market capitalization drop for the five most valuable companies in the U.S. The group, which besides the iPhone maker includes Facebook Inc. Amazon.com Inc. Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., saw its collective market capitalization shrink by more than $250 billion today, according to a CNBC tally.
Update: On Tuesday, stocks swooned again, with the Dow plummeting about 900 points, or 3.2% and the Nasdaq falling about 2.8%.
The latest catalyst was a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Americans should ready themselves for the likelihood that the virus will spread to communities in the U.S., not just from infected abroad.
There are more than 79,400 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide as of Monday afternoon. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, said today that it’s too early to declare the coronavirus a pandemic but called on countries to be “in a phase of preparedness.” Some economists, meanwhile, warned that the outbreak may increase the chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
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