By Noreen Burke
Investing.com - Dow futures fell more than 370 points on Thursday and U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hit a new record low as the number of new cases of coronavirus inside China was outstripped by new cases elsewhere, highlighting the spread of the epidemic around the world.
By around 07:40 AM ET (1240 GMT) Dow futures plunged 370 points, down around 1.4%. S&P 500 futures were down 1.3% while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.5%.
Yields on U.S. Treasuries, which fall when prices rise, dropped to record lows below 1.29% for 10-year debt and the yield curve continued to send recession warnings.
Markets are pricing a roughly even chance the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month and have almost fully priced in a cut by April.
Growing fears over the hit to global economic growth from the rapidly spreading virus continued to hammer global stock markets on Thursday, increasing their drop in value this week alone to more than $3 trillion.
On Wednesday the U.S. confirmed a first case of Covid-19 that doesn’t have any known connection to the existing outbreak.
Investors shrugged off an attempt by U.S. President Donald Trump to calm U.S. stock markets, saying the risk from the virus was "very low" and the U.S. was "very, very ready" to face the threat.
Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures were down 3% to $47.27. Gold futures were up 0.7% at $1,654 an ounce.
--Reuters contributed to this report