By Noreen Burke
Investing.com - Dow futures fluctuated between gains and losses on Wednesday as Wall Street attempted to struggle back after an epic two-day selloff on the back of concerns over the global economic impact of coronavirus.
By around 06:50 AM ET (1150 GMT) Dow futures were up 14 points, reversing course after dropping around 160 points earlier. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
The Dow tumbled 3.1% on Tuesday, bringing its two-day loss to more than 1,900 points after finishing Monday down nearly 880 points.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also finished sharply lower Tuesday, while U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hit a record low amid a broad-based flight to safety on concerns about the global economic impact of the outbreak.
Late on Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted Americans to begin preparing for a likely outbreak in the U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that he would give a briefing on the situation later Wednesday, having said on Tuesday that "CDC and my administration are doing a GREAT job of handling coronavirus." White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said U.S. containment of the disease was "nearly airtight."
Fears of a pandemic escalated on Wednesday after Asia reported hundreds of new cases from South Korea (including the first U.S. soldier to be infected) to Kuwait, while outbreaks in Italy and Iran spread to other countries.
Although the disease is believed to have peaked in China, where it first originated late last year, the resulting hit to factory output and consumer spending have threatened global economic growth in 2020.
"The market's realizing that though the pace of the infections looked like it was slowing, it's still spreading globally," said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Jersey City, New Jersey.
While investors had hoped the economic impact of the virus would be contained to the first quarter, Cruz said many are now estimating that "it's going to have an impact on the first half of 2020 and probably beyond."
Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.3% to $49.26, having earlier hit a 13-month low. Gold futures remained well bid above $1,650 an ounce, even though U.S. Treasury bond yields ticked up.
--Reuters contributed to this report