The US markets once again ended deeply in red on Tuesday, following the sell-off seen in the previous session, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak and investors attempted to assess the impact of the epidemic in China on global trade and travel. The number of worldwide cases of COVID-19 continues to rise. There are now 80,238 cases in 34 countries and at least 2,700 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). South Korea raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level, with the latest spike in numbers bringing the total infected to more than 800. Meanwhile, Italy has been the worst affected country outside of Asia, with more than 130 reported cases and seven deaths. Iran also confirmed 12 deaths. The US Department of Health & Human Services called for $2.5 billion of additional federal funds to help combat the coronavirus, including to stockpile surgical masks and to work on a potential vaccine, which government agencies said likely would not be available to the public for another 12 to 18 months.
On the economic data front, data released by the Conference Board showed consumer confidence in the US improved slightly in the month of February. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index inched up to 130.7 in February from a downwardly revised 130.4 in January. Street had expected the index to tick up to 132.5 from the 131.6 originally reported for the previous month. The modest increase by the headline index came as the expectations index surged up to 107.8 in February from 101.4 in January. On the other hand, the report said the present situation index tumbled to 165.1 in February from 173.9 in the previous month.
Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 879.44 or 3.15 percent points 27,081.36, Nasdaq dropped 255.67 points or 2.77 percent to 8,965.61 and S&P 500 was down by 97.68 points or 3.03 percent to 3,128.21.
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