Wall Street's major averages tumbled more than 1.5 percent on Friday, sealing its worst week in six months, as sluggish U.S. economic data, a mixed batch of corporate earnings and the spreading coronavirus outbreak fueled concerns about global growth.
After suffering its biggest one-day percentage decline since October 2, the S&P SPX 500 was down more than three percent from its closing high hit earlier in January, as businesses struggle with supply problems from the coronavirus epidemic that has killed 259 people in China and has been declared a global emergency.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had issued a quarantine order for all Americans repatriated from China to an air base in California. However, stocks pared losses late in the session as the agency director, Robert Redfield, said the risk to the U.S. public is low.
Delta Air Lines Inc lost 2.38 percent and American Airlines Group Inc fell 3.17 percent after the companies said they would suspend all flights to the Chinese mainland.
U.S. data showing consumer spending rose steadily in December while wage gains indicated moderate growth in consumption amid contracting business investment added to the growth concerns. Additionally, a report on manufacturing in the Midwest hit a four-year low for January.
"We spent most of this week still with this kind of euphoric optimism about the U.S. market, and today that finally began to fade... people are finally starting to get concerned," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut.
Amazon.com Inc was a bright spot, surging 7.38 percent on better-than-expected results for the holiday-quarter that pushed it back into the one-trillion-dollar market capitalization club.
Gains in Amazon helped the consumer discretionary index SPLRCD rise 0.82 percent, the only sector on the plus side. Energy SPNY was by far the worst performer, tumbling 3.18 percent.
Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp were the primary drags on the sector as each dropped more than four percent after disappointing results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 603.41 points, or 2.09 percent, to 28,256.03, the S&P 500 SPX lost 58.14 points, or 1.77 percent, to 3,225.52 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC dropped 148.00 points, or 1.59 percent, to 9,150.94.
For the week, the Dow fell 2.5 percent , the S&P lost 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq declined 1.8 percent. Both the Dow and S&P 500 had their worst weekly performances since early August. For the month, the Dow lost one percent, the S&P slipped 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq rose two percent.
Visa Inc fell 4.44 percent after its quarterly revenue missed estimates and the payments network warned of incentives hitting 2020 results.
International Business Machines Corp gained 5.09 percent after it named a new chief executive officer.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 3.58-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.35-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 33 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 121 new lows.
About 9.03 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 7.61 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
(With input from Reuters)