US open: Stocks rise despite ongoing fears of global economic slowdown
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 26 Feb 2020
(Sharecast News) - US stocks recorded some early gains at the bell on Wednesday as the S&P 500 attempted to recover from its worst two-day run in four years.
As of 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.18% at 27,400.93, while the S&P 500 was 0.80% firmer at 3,153.18 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 1.52% stronger at 9,102.31.
The Dow opened 319.57 points higher on Wednesday after stocks recorded some heavy losses in the previous session amid concerns about a potentially prolonged global economic slowdown in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
Tuesday's sell-off accelerated after US health officials cautioned that the virus was "likely" to spread throughout the nation.
Despite the historic losses, US President Donald Trump, who will discuss the outbreak during a press conference at 1100 GMT, tweeted: "Stock Market starting to look very good to me."
The 10-year Treasury yield bounced back to 1.36% early on Wednesday, recovering from a record low of 1.31% during the previous session.
In coronavirus headlines, South Korea reported 169 new cases overnight, bringing the country's total to 1,146, while in Italy, infections hit 325. China reported 406 new confirmed cases and another 52 deaths.
Oanda's Craig Erlam said: "Coronavirus may have been headline news for most of us for the last month but it's taken until this week to truly infect the markets, as investors flee risk amid a growing belief that we have a full-blown pandemic on our hands.
"Cases are popping up right, left and centre outside of China, with the infection and fatality rate in Iran causing particular concerns for the middle east. Italy and South Korea are the other two countries that have been highlighted as being problematic but other countries are far from immune and Tuesday seemed to bring updates of new cases almost on the hour, every hour."
In the corporate space, UnitedHealth, Microsoft and Visa led the Dow's early gains, while Apple gave the Nasdaq a boost at the bell.
Best Buy, Booking Holdings, and Hostess Brands were scheduled to report earnings throughout the course of the day.
On the macro front, the Commerce Department revealed new home sales jumped 7.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 764,000 units in January, the highest level seen since July 2007.
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