U.S. major stock averages broke their two-day winning streak today due to the re-ignition of coronavirus fears. Health authorities from China's Hubei province changed the way that patients are diagnosed, causing a surge in confirmed cases. China's Hubei National Health Commission will now count cases diagnosed by methods include CT imaging scans, adding thousands of new infections to the total. Prior cases were only diagnosed using nucleic acid testing kits. As of Thursday, there are more than 60,000 confirmed cases worldwide and at least 1,300 total deaths.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite reached all-time highs in midday trading, but fell in final hours. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 100 points as investors consider the impending impacts the virus will have on the global economy.
Here's how the stock market closed after regular hours on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
In Major Stock News, a federal judge ordered a temporary block on the JEDI cloud contract awarded to Microsoft
In Stock Sector News, most sectors on Thursday ended the day in the negative after a morning of performance gains. The fews sectors that had growth on Thursday include Utilities +1.02%, Consumer Staples +0.55%, Real Estate +0.50% and Communication Services +0.15%. The rest that posted losses include Industrials -0.69%, Health Care -0.54%, Energy -0.45%, Materials -0.38%, Information Technology -0.30%, Consumer Discretionary -0.24% and Financials -0.04%.
Lastly, in Commodity and Currency News, crude oil prices end Thursday mixed with West Texas Intermediate