More losses ahead for Wall Street
U.S. stock futures traded sharply lower in early pre-market trade on Thursday, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first ‘unknown origin’ novel coronavirus case in America in an individual who reportedly hasn’t come in contact with another infected patient or recently travelled abroad.
“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC said in a statement on Wednesday night.
Just yesterday, President Donald Trump moved to reassure the public and Wall Street that the risk of the virus to Americans “remains very, very low.” The President also said that Vice President Mike Pence would spearhead the administration’s response efforts to the escalating global health crisis.
As of 6:55 a.m. ET, the Dow 30 futures contract was down 228 points or 0.85% to 26,686. The S&P 500 futures contract dropped 24.63 points, or 0.79% to 3,085.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures contract declined 66.50 points, or 0.75% to 8,783.75.
Microsoft issues coronavirus-related guidance warning
Meanwhile, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) doesn’t expect to meet its guidance for its More Personal Computing segment in the January-March quarter.
More Personal Computing segment encompasses the company’s Surface and Windows businesses. The tech giant said its supply chain is being slowed down by the coronavirus outbreak, which will hurt Windows and Surface revenues.
“Although we see strong Windows demand in line with our expectations, the supply chain is returning to normal operations at a slower pace than anticipated at the time of our Q2 earnings call,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Last month, the company issued Q3 revenue guidance for its More Personal Computing segment between $10.75 and $11.15 billion. At the time of writing, the stock was down 2.33% to $166.20 a share in pre-market trading Thursday.
Best Buy, Beyond Meat earnings on tap
Traders are also awaiting a slew of corporate earnings reports today, even as they continue to monitor coronavirus updates.
Before the markets open, electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is expected to post quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.74 a share on revenue of $15.05 billion. JCPenney (NYSE: JCP), Keurig Dr. Pepper (NYSE: KDP), and Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) will also report ahead of the bell.
After the close, plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) is expected to report quarterly earnings of $0.01 on revenue of $79.77 million.
Other earnings to watch after the bell include Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL), Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST), Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), and Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK).
