By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P ended slightly higher Thursday after staging a comeback from session lows, led by easing fears over the deadly coronavirus and surging airline stocks following upbeat earnings.
The S&P 500 rose 0.11%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.09%.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) rallied 4%% as its fourth-quarter earnings topped estimates despite a rise in costs from the grounding of the 737 Max. Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) rose about 3% shrugging off a quarterly earnings miss.
As well as airlines, General Electric (NYSE:GE) also powered industrials to a strong day on Wall Street.
GE ended the day 3% higher after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight amid signs of progress on its turnaround.
Sentiment on stocks was dealt a blow early on following reports of increased facilities and outbreaks from the coronavirus that originated in China. But fears of contagion were calmed following remarks from the World Health Organization, saying it was "too early" to worry about a global outbreak.
Energy stocks pared losses on the remarks as oil prices moved off lows amid easing worries a further outbreak would halt flights and keep a lid on oil demand.
"If the epidemic spreads and we start to see the flight cancellations spread to other countries and airports in Asia, it would certainly have a "significant hit on jet fuel demand and therefore crude oil," Schork Report Editor Stephen Schork said and highlighted the impact on oil from previous epidemic like the Avian Flu virus in 1997 and Sars in 2003.