U.S. stocks finished lower Thursday, after clawing back from steep late-morning losses, as investors struggled to find their footing amid uncertainty about the impact of China’s coronavirus epidemic.

Although investors have been heartened by daily reports of a slowing rate of the spread of the COVID-19 disease, the spread of virus outside China is sparking some anxiety, analysts said.

“We now have Q4 results from 411 S&P 500 members that combined account for 88.6% of the index’s total market capitalization. Total earnings for these 411 index members are up +1.1% from the same period last year on +4.6% higher revenues,” wrote Sheraz Mian, research director at Zacks, in a note.

Even so, Thursday’s action comes as a reminder of how quickly sentiment can shift to pressure stocks lower, with the uncertainty of epidemic injecting some volatility into markets, even as China attempts to pre-empt the pain.

To subscribe to real time signal, email to us at futures.coin@gmail.com for details. Sign up today for March subscription. 

Stock markets settled lower after partially recovering from a midday pullback as investors found few reasons to drive equity benchmarks to fresh highs, with the declines being attributed to lingering jitters about the impact of epidemic in China.

Earlier in the session, U.S. equity benchmarks briefly punched into positive territory, amid a burst of corporate deal activity that pointed to optimism about the domestic economy. Meanwhile, U.S. corporate earnings for the fourth quarter also have quelled some fears that stock gains have come purely on the back of momentum and speculation rather than fundamentals, like earnings.

U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower open Thursday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs Wednesday. The Dow broke a three-session losing streak with a 115-point advance but still remains nearly 1% away from a new high as investors continue to gauge the impact of the coronavirus on global economic growth. Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley has agreed to buy E-Trade for $13 billion, the latest in a consolidation wave for the retail brokerage industry. Before-the-bell, the Labor Department issued its weekly report on first-time filings for unemployment benefits. Claims last week came in as expected at 210,000.

HSI

Hong Kong stocks ticked lower on Thursday, as a rapid rise in new coronavirus cases outside mainland China outweighed optimism over Beijing’s widely-anticipated interest rate cut. 

At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 0.2% at 27,609.16. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.1%. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.5%, the IT sector gained 0.4% and the financial sector was flat. 

China’s stock market hit fresh one-month highs on Thursday as the central bank vowed support for the economy, which has been hurt by the coronavirus outbreak. 

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.3%. The onshore yuan finished domestic trading at its weakest level since Feb. 3 at 7.0153 per dollar. About 1.58 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.47 billion.

Afternoon Plan
Plan A : Long if market supported firm above 27283. Targets are 27352 and 27483.
Plan B : Short if market failed to support above 27283. Targets are 27223 and 27105.