Coronavirus triggered a small pullback

On Friday we witnessed a pullback in the financial markets showing sensitivity to the headlines surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. As the death toll in China mounted and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention confirmed a second case in the U.S. the market fell as did stocks sensitive to the issue in China like MGM. As the airport action board here show in China all transportation has stopped in Wuhan.

Cases have turned up in other countries as well, including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.90%  fell 0.9% Friday, for its biggest one-day loss since Oct. 8, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.58%  170.36 points, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.93%, which traded at an intraday record in early morning action, ended the day down 0.8%. We will have to watch the news over the weekend to determine how the markets open on Monday. We did open an alert on Visa (V) calls on Friday. But the cat is out of the bag!