Stock market live updates: Stocks falling fast to lows, gold 7-year high, E-Trade surges

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Multiple traders pointed CNBC to a story on the website of the Global Times, which is a tabloid under the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China. The story noted a sharp rise in coronavirus infections at a single Beijing hospital. The timing does not match up with the recent sell-off, however, as this story was posted a few hours ago. Still, the story taps into the fears investors have right now about the coronavirus possibly spreading in the capital city. Traders these days are more apt to sell first and figure out the facts later. -Melloy

The Dow’s losses are now greater than 300 points and it’s still not clear what is driving the move, other than possible technical analysis factors triggering quantitative selling. The Dow went from down 200 points to negative 370 points in the span of just a couple of minutes. Traders contacted by CNBC so far have no good reason behind the move. Big liquid name like Microsoft are falling with ‘MSFT’ now down more than 2% -Melloy

Stocks moved rapidly to the lows of the day. It was unclear of the catalyst though shares of Intel (down 3%) and Goldman Sachs (down 2%) are leading the way. The Dow is now down 150 points.—Melloy

Vehicle auction company Copart was one of the worst performers in the S&P 500 in early trading after missing estimates for its fiscal second quarter. Shares of the company fell roughly 11% to under $93 per share after reporting adjusted earnings per share of 65 cents and $575.1 million of revenue. Wall Street analysts expected 66 cents per share and $576.1 million of revenue, according to FactSet. Copart’s vehicle sales fell by nearly $3 million compared with the same period last year. —Pound

Gold rose 0.5% to $1,621.60 per ounce on Thursday, its highest level since Feb. 15, 2013. The metal is on pace for its sixth straight positive day, and eighth positive week in nine. As the coronavirus outbreak continues, investors fearing a slowdown in global growth are piling into so-called safe haven trades such as gold. —Francolla, Stevens

Shares of Virgin Galactic rose as much as 5% as investors continued to trade the stock at a breakneck pace. More than 10 million shares of Virgin Galactic changed hands in the first five minutes of Thursday trading, according to FactSet, more than half the stock’s daily average volume. — Sheetz

Stocks opened modestly lower across the board to start Thursday’s session as UnitedHealth dragged the Dow into negative territory. Equities came under pressure in premarket trading following Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida’s comments to CNBC that threw cold water on the prospects of a future interest rate cut, which investors had been pricing in. E-Trade led the S&P 500 higher after Morgan Stanley said it’s agreed to buy the brokerage for $13 billion. L Brands, ViacomCBS were among the biggest losers. — Franck

Stock futures fell to their lows of the day after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida told CNBC’s Steve Liesman that traders expecting a rate cut could be off. “Market pricing on rate cuts is a little tricky,” Clarida said, noting that he prefers to look at economists’ forecasts over futures markets on Fed rates. Clarida noted the majority of economists do not expect a rate easing soon from the Fed. Fed futures are pricing in about a 50% chance of a rate easing by the Fed through June, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Dow futures were last down 90 points after being down around 40 points before the Clarida interview.

Shares of Virgin Galactic vaulted 310% in the past three months and Morgan Stanley says the space tourism stock is due for “a bit of a breather here.” The firm added that “a modest correction is overdue, and frankly, healthy, in our opinion.” Despite the warning, Virgin Galactic shares rose 2% in premarket trading. —Sheetz

Shares of Domino’s Pizza rose more than 17% during Thursday’s premarket trading after the company reported fourth quarter earnings that topped analyst expectations. For the quarter the company earned $3.13 per share, compared to consensus estimates of $2.98 per share, according to FactSet. Revenue came it at $1.15 billion, exceeding the expected $1.12 billion. —Stevens

Shares of Zillow Group gained more than 14% ahead of Thursday’s open after the company reported revenue of $944 million for the fourth quarter. According to estimates from FactSet, analysts had been calling for $814.6 million in sales. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company reported $365.3 million in revenue. As the online real estate company moves into buying and selling homes, the company said it earned $603 million in its homes segment. —Stevens

Morgan Stanley has agreed to buy E-Trade in a $13 billion all-stock deal, the companies said on Thursday. The investment bank will pay $58.74 a share in stock for E-Trade, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. The takeover is set to bring together $3.1 trillion in client assets. Morgan Stanley shares fell more than 4% in premarket trading. E-Trade shares jumped about 23% to $55.16. —Li

Stock futures are falling on Thursday as Wall Street is set to take a breather following a record-setting session. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both indicate declines of 0.2% at the open. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 43 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs in the previous session, led by a rally in tech shares. However, lingering worries over the coronavirus tempered sentiment on Thursday. —Imbert

— With reporting by Jesse Pound, Thomas Franck, Michael Sheetz, Michael Bloom and John Melloy.

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