US open: Stocks record early gains as investors shrug off coronavirus worries
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 11 Feb 2020
(Sharecast News) - US stocks recorded some early gains on Tuesday as Wall Street continued to shrug off worries about the economic impact of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
As of 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.43% at 29,402.69, while the S&P 500 was 0.66% firmer at 3,374.16 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.85% stronger at 9,709.83.
The Dow opened 125.87 points higher on Tuesday, following on from a positive performance on the Street in the previous session which saw indices bounce back from some losses at the end of last week as news of major corporate deals temporarily distracted market participants from headlines related to the so-called Wuhan virus.
While China's National Health Commission confirmed overnight that the death toll had risen to 1,016 people, with 42,638 confirmed cases, that number was the lowest seen since late January, increasing optimism regarding the nation's efforts to contain the outbreak.
Concerns regarding the economic impact of the outbreak were also offset by some positive data.
Oanda's Edward Moya said: "Global equities are higher across the board as investor optimism grows that Beijing is confident enough to allow its largest businesses to resume industrial production and on hopes that Fed Chair Powell's testimony to Congress will signal that the coronavirus impact to the global economy could warrant further stimulus from the Fed.
"It seems that Beijing is losing patience with allowing the economy to fall to stall speed, the worst levels in almost three decades. President Xi is pushing back and signalling leaders to avoid 'more restrictive measures'."
Elsewhere, heading into the second contest of the Democratic primaries on Tuesday, polls showed that Senator Bernie Sanders was out front in New Hampshire but there was still much scepticism about whether or not he could actually prevail.
On the macro front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small-business optimism index rebounded from a slight decline at the end of 2019, rising to 104.3 points in January from the 102.7 recorded a month earlier.
Small businesses were more optimistic about sales and profits in January, but the NFIB's survey indicated that it was still difficult to find qualified workers.
Still on data, the number of job openings in the US fell to 6.4m in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary report.
This reading came in lower than the market expectation of 7m.
In corporate news, Under Armour shares were down 11% ahead of the bell after the sporting goods firm reported that sales had missed analysts' estimates during the holiday quarter, while T-Mobile and Sprint shares were both ahead after the Wall Street Journal revealed a US judge had approve the pair's merger.
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