Wall Street Close: Benchmarks snapping a three-day winning streak

Following record closes on Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning streak, US benchmarks were unable to hold onto their highest levels on Thursday and fell back into the red in the closing hour as fears over the coronavirus spearing like wildfire, as investors awaited the latest numbers from China to take hold. 

Subsequently, the S&P 500 lost around 0.2% to end at 3,374, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA, dropped 128 points, or 0.4%, to end near 29,423 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1% down to around 9,712. This follows a change in the methodology for how Chinese health officials are counting confirmed cases of the coronavirus which has resulted in a sharp climb in the number of cases and deaths due to the disease.

The Hubei province reported 242 new deaths and 14,840 new cases of the flu-like virus which takes the global death toll to at least 1,357 and the number of confirmed cases to more than 60,000. The lift in cases was driven by a change in the way the disease is being diagnosed meaning a lift in both cases and deaths attributed to the disease. This created uncertainty and stemmed previous optimism that the disease may be peaking. Markets now await today's figures in Asia, usually reported around the Tokyo open. 

US CPI details stronger than expected

Core inflation lifted by 0.2% MoM in January, while the headline index was up 0.1% m/m. "On an annual basis, core inflation lifted 2.3% y/y while overall inflation lifted 2.5%. Falling petrol prices (which isn’t included in the core measure) offset higher prices for food, rent and clothing. The data shows the US economy is improving and supports the argument for the Fed to hold interest rates at current levels," analysts at ANZ Bank argued. 

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