After the stock markets made modest gains on Wednesday morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed in negative territory as investors tried to gauge the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed down 0.45% and 0.37%, respectively. The Nasdaq composite closed up slightly. After the losses of the past few days, the Dow is down more than 5% in 2020.
The number of cases in the United States has increased to 60 when including the U.S. citizens who were repatriated from Wuhan, China, and the evacuees from the Diamond Princess, the luxury cruise liner on which several passengers were infected by the virus, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a congressional committee on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield on Wednesday fell to a record low of 1.32%. The price of crude oil was down 2.95% per barrel.
Additional cases have been announced in other countries as well, including South Korea, Italy, Spain, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Germany. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Wednesday that the country is facing a “coronavirus epidemic.”
Despite the increase in cases of the virus, world markets closed in mixed territory. Germany’s Dax 30 closed down while France’s CAC 40 and London’s FTSE 100 index closed up. Markets in South Korea and Hong Kong closed down.
