Stock market news live: Stocks fall, Treasury yields slump amid ongoing coronavirus fears – Yahoo Finance

U.S. stocks fell Friday, adding to losses from the prior session as investors fled to safe haven assets including gold and Treasuries. Existing home sales data, IHS Markit’s February purchasing managers’ indices for the U.S. and coronavirus developments remained a focus for investors.

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10:00 a.m. ET: Existing home sales decline less than expected in January

Existing home sales fell by 1.3% month on month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million in January, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. This beat consensus economist expectations for a decline of 1.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.44 million expected. In December, existing home sales registered at 5.53 million.

In January, declines were led by a drop in sales of previously owned homes in the West. These fell 9.4% over December. Sales were little changed to flat in the Midwest, South and Northeast.

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9:48 a.m. ET: 30-year U.S. Treasury yield hits all-time low

The 30-year U.S. Treasury yield sank more than 7 basis points Friday morning to an all-time low of 1.8904% as of 9:48 a.m. Friday morning, according to Bloomberg data, amid broad-based buying in U.S. government bonds. Yields were lower across the curve, and the yield on the 10-year note remained below that of the shorter-duration 3-month bill.

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9:45 a.m. ET: IHS Markit U.S. composite purchasing managers’ index sinks to the lowest level since 2013

The U.S. flash composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped sharply below expectations and into contractionary territory in February, IHS Markit said Friday. The weakness was led by a slump in the U.S. services sector, as the coronavirus outbreak hit travel and tourism-related industries.

The composite PMI registered at 49.6 for February, coming in well below the print of 53.3 from January and marking the lowest level in seven years. Readings below the neutral level of 50 indicate contraction.

Within the composite print, the manufacturing PMI came in at a six-month low of 50.8, below expectations for 51.5.

The service sector PMI slumped to a more than six-year low of 49.4. Consensus economist had expected this to come in at 53.4, which would have matched January’s level.

Here’s what Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, had to say about the results, according to a statement:

With the exception of the government-shutdown of 2013, US business activity contracted for the first time since the global financial crisis in February. Weakness was primarily seen in the service sector, where the first drop in activity for four years was reported, but manufacturing production also ground almost to a halt due to a near-stalling of orders.

Total new orders fell for the first time in over a decade. The deterioration in was in part linked to the coronavirus outbreak, manifesting itself in weakened demand across sectors such as travel and tourism, as well as via falling exports and supply chain disruptions. However, companies also reported increased caution in respect to spending due to worries about a wider economic slowdown and uncertainty ahead of the presidential election later this year.

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9:43 a.m. ET: Gold trades at seven-year high

Gold prices jumped more than 1%, or $21.80, Friday morning amid a flight to safe haven assets. At more than $1,640 an ounce, the precious metal was trading at its highest level since March 2013. Gold was on track for its best week in eight months as of intraday trading Friday.

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9:33 a.m. ET: Stocks drop, safe havens climb around market open

Stocks opened lower Friday morning, holding onto losses from the overnight session.

Declines in the Dow were led by Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs. In the S&P 500, the Energy sector lagged as crude oil prices dropped nearly 2%. Gold and Treasuries climbed, with the yield on the 10-year note down 3.5 basis points to below 1.5%.

Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:33 ET:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): -0.42% or -14.01 points to 3,359.22

• Dow (^DJI): -0.39% or -113.77 points to 29,106.21

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): -0.42% or -40.57 points to 9,711.2

• Crude oil (CL=F): -1.82% or -$0.98 to $52.90 a barrel

• Gold (GC=F): +1.35% or +$21.80 to $1,642.30 per ounce

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7:49 a.m. ET: Deere & Co. shares jump in pre-market trading after company beats 1Q expectations

Heavy equipment seller Deere & Co. (DE) posted better than expected results for its fiscal first quarter as farmer sentiment picked up after U.S.-China trade tensions deescalated.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.63 per share on sales of $6.53 billion, better than the $1.25 per share on $6.28 billion in sales anticipated, according to Bloomberg data.