Stock market news live: Wall Street dives on coronavirus panic, stocks have worst day in 2 years

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World markets got slammed on Monday, with investors unnerved by rising coronavirus concerns. An unexpected surge in confirmed infections within Italy and South Korea — which now has the largest cluster of cases outside of China — raised the possibility that the mystery virus could be mutating into a pandemic.

4:15 p.m. ET: Shake Shack swoons after Q4 earnings

FILE - In this April 15, 2015, file photo, a man walks out of a Shake Shack in front of the New York-New York hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Shake Shack reports financial results Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
FILE - In this April 15, 2015, file photo, a man walks out of a Shake Shack in front of the New York-New York hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Shake Shack reports financial results Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Shake Shack’s fourth quarter earnings report is leaving investors hungry for more. The burger chain lost 6 cents per share and reported big jumps in quarterly revenue on relatively light sales, but its stock tumbled sharply in post-market trading after it gave guidance below Wall Street estimates.

Shake Shack’s (SHAK) stock plunged by nearly 11% from Monday’s close at $73.57, but have rallied 24% since 2020 began.

4:00 p.m. ET: Stocks walloped by coronavirus outbreak

Wall Street suffered its worst losses in 2 years on Monday, as fears of a global coronavirus pandemic forced investors out of stocks and into safe-havens like the dollar, gold and Treasuries. All of the Dow’s (^DJI) gains for 2020 have evaporated amid the volatility, which is unlikely to abate after an eruption of new infections outside of China.

Here’s where markets settled at the close:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): -3.35%, or -111.86 points to 3,225.89

  • Dow (^DJI): -3.56%, or -1,031.40 points to 27,961.01

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): -3.71%, or -355.31 points to 9,221.28

  • Crude oil (CL=F): -3.95% or -$2.11 to 51.27

  • Gold (GC=F): +0.73% or $12.00 to 1,660.80

3:23 p.m. ET: Key pharma stocks hit by opioid fears

Monday has been a bad day for pharma giants ensnared in opioid legal action. Mallinckrodt (MNK) crumbled by a whopping 40% at its lows, after a Wall Street Journal report that the company may be preparing for the bankruptcy of its U.S. generics unit, which is in the crosshairs of opioid lawsuits. Separately, Teva (TEVA) — another opioid maker — dropped by over 4%, in part because of a “sell” recommendation by Edward Jones.

1:15 p.m. ET: Pandemic jitters send Europe to its worst day in 3 years

European stocks suffered their worst day since 2016 on Monday as coronavirus infections climbed in Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (^STOXX) closed down by almost 3.8%, with stocks on Italy’s FTSE MIB Index (FTSEMIB.MI) sinking by more than 5.4%. The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) declined by more than 3.3% in London. Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was down by 4%, while France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) was down by more than 3.9%.

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Noon ET: Stocks take new leg lower; travel and leisure lead the rout

United Airlnes and American Airlnes planes are shown on the tarmac from an outdoor terrace and observation deck at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
United Airlnes and American Airlnes planes are shown on the tarmac from an outdoor terrace and observation deck at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

All of Wall Street’s major benchmarks are hunkered near session lows on coronavirus selling, with airlines and other leisure stocks bearing the brunt of selling. Some of the sector’s prominent names, like American Air (AAL), Norwegian Cruise (NCLH), Delta (DAL), Carnival (CCL), Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Booking.com, are off by at least 7% on the day. Travel and leisure has long been seen as most vulnerable to the pathogen (the Diamond Princess fiasco a prime illustration of why).