· The S&P 500 ended slightly higher and the Nasdaq eked out a record closing high on Thursday, helped by a jump in Netflix, while news about the coronavirus outbreak spreading from China and mixed earnings results kept a lid on the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 26.18 points, or 0.09%, to 29,160.09, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.79 points, or 0.11%, to 3,325.54, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 18.71 points, or 0.2%, to 9,402.48.
The S&P and the Nasdaq had both been trading down before news late in the session that Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) was assessing its experimental Ebola drug as a possible treatment for the virus.
The Dow ended modestly lower.
The outbreak has strained global equity markets, just as millions of Chinese are preparing to travel for the Lunar New Year, which begins Saturday.
· Stocks in Asia Pacific rose in Friday morning trade after the World Health Organization (WHO) declined for a second day Thursday to formally designate a new coronavirus as a global health emergency.
The moves stateside came after the WHO said it was “bit too early to consider this event is a public health emergency of international concern.”
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.26% in early trade as shares of Tokyo Electron jumped 1.68%. The Topix index also gained 0.19%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia rose in morning trade, as the S&P/ASX 200 gained around 0.3%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was largely flat.
Major markets across the region such as China and South Korea are closed on Friday ahead of the Lunar New Year that starts on Saturday.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
Thai
Eng