Stocks open lower on Wall Street following drops overseas

Stocks are opening moderately lower on Wall Street, following declines overseas, as more worries about the spread of a virus outbreak in China and some weak earnings results put investors in a mood to sell. UPS sank after swinging to a loss in its latest quarter, and tobacco company Altria dropped after taking a $4.1 billion hit from legal costs related to its investment in the e-cigarette maker Juul. The S&P 500 fell 10 points, or 0.3%, to 3,262. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 61, or 0.2%, to 28,668, and the Nasdaq fell 10 points, or 0.1%, to 9,264.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Shares tumbled in Europe and Asia on Thursday as the impact of the virus outbreak in China expanded to include flight cancellations and other wider precautions to help stop its spread.

Taiwan's benchmark dived 5.8% as its market reopened after the Lunar New Year. Shares fell in most other markets, with the CAC 40 in Paris dropping 1.1% to 5,890.00 and Germany's DAX shedding 1% to 13,215.90. In Britain, the FTSE 100 declined 0.9% to 7,415.93.

The declines looked likely to carry over into U.S. trading. The future contract for the S&P 500 lost 0.7%, as did the future for the Dow.

The death toll from the virus rose to 170, with 7,711 people in China and elsewhere confirmed infected, as foreign evacuees from the worst-hit region in central China began returning home under close observation.

After world health officials have expressed “great concern” that the disease is starting to spread between people outside of China, Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank 1.7% to 22,977.75, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index skidded 2.6% to 26,449.13. In Australia, the S&P ASX/200 declined 0.3% to 7,008.40. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.7% to 2,148.00.

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