U.S. stocks started Monday in the red due to accelerating coronavirus fears, but investors later shook those off and ended trading on the positive side. As of Sunday evening, the coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 900 in mainland China and total cases rose to 40,171, according to China's National Health Commission. Now, more have been killed by the coronavirus than during the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003, which killed 774.
Due to the virus's halt on a large portion of Chinese business to help contain the spread, a UBS (NYSE: UBS) economist noted that the U.S.'s real gross domestic product growth could slow below 1% in the first quarter.
Here's how the market closed on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.73% or +24.42 points to 3,352.13
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.60% or +174.27 points to 29,276.78
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.13% or +107.88 points to 9,628.39
In Major Stock News, Burger King, a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSEL QSR), has temporarily closed about half its roughly 1,000 locations in China. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) share rose more than 3% after the Shanghai municipal government stated it would help companies like Tesla resume production. Slack (NYSE: WORK) surged over 15% after the workplace chat application added IBM (NYSE: IBM) to its customer list, with the company reporting that Slack will be used to every single one of its 350,000 employees worldwide as part of the push to modernize the company. Taubman Centers (NYSE: TCO) soared more than 50% after the mall owner announced that it would be acquired by rival Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG). Xerox (NYSE: XRX) and HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) both rose in midday trading after Xerox raised its bid at acquires HP to $24 a share from $22 a share. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) informed investors that they should buy the dip in value stocks, noting that stocks have rebounded last week despite fears about the deadly virus. The investment firm said that if concerns about the epidemic turn out to be overblown, stocks with solid dividend growth should outperform.
In Stock Sector News, most sectors saw explosive growth during Monday's trading hours, with those lagging in performance only being Energy -0.81% and Materials +0.02%. The rests of the sectors that saw increased performance growth include Information Technology +1.35%, Consumer Discretionary +1.26%, Real Estate +1.23%, Communication Services +0.84%, Industrials +0.56%, Health Care +0.51%, Consumer Staples +0.37%, Utilities +0.34% and Financials +0.21%.
Lastly, in Commodity and Currency News, West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) fell below $50 per barrel in midday trading on Monday and closed around $49. As the oil benchmark continues to take a steady drop, companies that are affected by the ongoing decline include oil producers, oil industries and airlines on the grand scale, while most businesses that trade will be affected to some degree. The benchmark closed down -1.43% and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) dropped over -2%. Gold (NYSE: GLD) also ended its trading in the negatives, with the metal's price declining almost -0.2%. The U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP), on the other hand, kept climbing, with the DXY Index increasing +0.21%.