U.S. stock futures were down sharply Thursday, after a news conference by President Donald Trump failed to reassure investors and as a new case of coronavirus with no known origin was discovered in California. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, -0.61% sank more than 200 points, but nearly 400 points at one stage, while S&P 500 ES00, -0.61% and Nasdaq Composite futures NQ00, -0.61% were also off by 0.7%. European stocks opened sharply lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -1.99% dropping 2.3%. Earlier Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.25% warned it won't meet its quarterly forecasts due to the effects of the outbreak, likely signaling more widespread guidance misses across the tech industry. On Wall Street, the Dow and S&P 500 index fell for a fifth straight day on continued fears of the coronavirus outbreak's impact on global economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.46% fell 123.77 points, or 0.5%, to settle at 26,957.50, marking the worst five-day point drop for the blue-chip index on record. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.38% shed 11.82 points, or 0.4%, to close at 3,116.39, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.17% added 15.16 points, or 0.2%, to close at 8,980.77, snapping a four-day losing streak.
