Stocks slid further on Friday, extending the historic selloff that gripped the market this week as worries about the coronavirus outbreak continue to mount. The S&P 500 pulled back by 13% this week, making for its worst week since the financial crisis, while the Nasdaq bucked the trend and finished the day near flat. The World Health Organization raised its global coronavirus risk assessment view to "very high" from "high," noting that more than 20 coronavirus vaccines are in development globally. Additionally, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell issued a statement on the virus, saying that it poses "evolving risks to economic activity." Powell said that the Fed is "closely monitoring" developments and how they affect the economic outlook, adding that the Fed will use its "tools and act as appropriate" to respond to the outbreak.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., personal income climbed 0.6% in January, with spending rising 0.2%. The advance indicators report revealed the trade deficit narrowed to $65.5B in January as exports fell 1.0% to $135.7B and imports dropped 2.2% to $201.2B. The Chicago PMI climbed to 49.0 in February, which was much better than expected. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey reading was revised up to 101.0 in the final February print, versus 100.9 in the preliminary reading and up from January's 99.8 figure. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is down 1 rig from last week to 790.
TOP NEWS: HP Inc. (HPQ), as it continues to push back on efforts from Xerox (XRX) to combine the companies, disclosed that in August of 2019, Carl Icahn, the largest shareholder of Xerox, phoned Dion Weisler, HP's then-chief executive officer, to express his belief that there was considerable value in combining Xerox and HP. Icahn told Weisler that HP should consider buying Xerox or, if not, that Icahn himself would consider making an offer to acquire HP and that he wanted a transaction to occur quickly, the company announced.
Dell Technologies (DELL) shares dropped 7.1% after the company reported fourth quarter earnings that missed expectations and revenue that matched the consensus forecast. CFO Tom Sweet touted the company's fiscal year results as a testiment to the company's "ability to adjust to win in any environment."
In other earnings news, Mylan (MYL) shares declined 8% after the drugmaker announced its fourth quarter results and issued FY20 guidance last night.
Shares of Tutor Perini (TPC) surged almost 20% after Reuters reported that Apollo Global (APO) has approached the company with a close to $1B acquisition offer. Apollo has made a bid of around $17 per share in cash for Tutor, according to Reuters.
Amid the 13% pullback this week in the S&P 500, the only stock in the index that had a weekly gain was Regeneron (REGN). The stock gained about 8% on a weekly basis as a number of Wall Street analysts turned more bullish on the drugmaker's shares after one of its competitors suffered a setback.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers were Sangamo (SGMO) and Farfetch (FTCH), which gained a respective 28% and 17.2% after reporting quarterly results.
Among the notable losers was Wayfair (W), which slid 10.1% after reporting quarterly results and providing downbeat guidance for Q1. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Glaukos (GKOS) and Beyond Meat (BYND), which fell 28.4% and 15.5%, respectively.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 357.28, or 1.39%, to 25,409.36, the Nasdaq gained 89c, or 0.01%, to 8,567.37, and the S&P 500 declined 24.54, or 0.82%, to 2,954.22.
