Markets fail to rally as coronavirus fears endure

North American indices began Wednesday in rally mode, but slumped as the afternoon wore on.

Except for Nasdaq, which hung on for a 0.17% gain, the Dow, S&P and TSX all ended the session decidedly negative. The TSX lost 0.79% and the Dow has lost tumbled 7% this week so far. The reason remains coronavirus fears, driven by fresh reports that cases continue to climb in South Korea, Italy and Iran. Also, there were reports that cases had started to appear in the U.S. Rattling investors even more were conflicting signals that Trump and his own White House have been sending the public.

In Toronto, only the tech sector was spared the sell-off with Shopify climbing 1.1%, while most gold stocks continued to attract jittery investors seeking a safe haven. Alacer Gold was the biggest gainer of the bunch, spiking 4.72%. Gold itself rose 0.27%.

However, the most telling news came after the closing bell when Microsoft warned it will miss its sales target due to the coronavirus. MSFT’s warning follows those by Apple and Mastercard. MSFT actually rose 1.25% in Wednesday’s session, but lost all that and more in after-hours trading.

Ⓜ Microsoft +1.35%