Tech stocks plunge as coronavirus fears send traders fleeing to safety

Getty Images / Johannes Eisele

• Coronavirus fears returned to US stocks on Friday, sending the Nasdaq 100 to its worst day in almost four weeks.
• Declines were led by Hasbro, Nvidia, and Advanced Micro Devices, three names with supply chain exposure in China.
• Safe-haven assets rallied, with the yield on the 30-year Treasury note hitting an all-time low.
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US stocks tumbled on Friday amid mounting coronavirus fears. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was hit particularly hard, registering its worst single-day drop in almost four weeks.

Among names leading the decline were semiconductor makers: Advanced Micro Devices fell 7%, while Nvidia Corp. slid 4.7%. Parts for semiconductors are heavily sourced out of China.

Meanwhile, toy maker Hasbro tumbled 9%. The firm said in its earnings release last week that China-based parts of its supply chain would see disruption as a result of coronavirus.

Through Wednesdsay, markets shrugged off the risk of coronavirus – the fast-spreading disease that’s infected more than 76,000 and killed 2,250. But companies have been increasingly sounding the alarm on forecasts, with Apple, Foxconn, Air-France-KLM, and AP Moller-Maersk all announcing this week that their businesses would be affected by the outbreak. 

Here is how the major indexes closed:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.78%

S&P 500 Index: -1.05%

Nasdaq 100: -1.88%

Investors also rushed into safe haven assets on Friday. The yield on the 30-year US Treasury hit an all-time low, while gold futures posted their biggest weekly gain in eight months.

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