Stocks Take Another Beating Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Stock markets continue to be rattled by the coronavirus outbreak and its economic fallout, with Asian markets falling sharply in Thursday trading.Japan’s Nikkei Index was down more than 5% in afternoon trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 3.7% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.3%.Those losses followed an ugly day Wednesday on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6%, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both fell 5%.U.S. futures pointed to another harsh day when trading opens Thursday.European markets also pointed to losses ahead of their openings.Less demand for travel because of the virus is also helping drive down world oil prices. Airline stocks and cruise ship lines have also been taking a beating.The Dow is now officially in what financial experts call a bear market — when the price of stocks drop at least 20% from a 52-week high. This ends the record-long bull market, which started in March 2009.
 
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