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| - Wall Street stocks advanced early Tuesday, stabilizing from the prior session's rout as markets continued to monitor the spread of the coronavirus. About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 percent at 28,032.20. On Monday, the blue-chip index suffered its worst session in more than two years amid fears the virus will derail global growth. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 percent at 3,232.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 percent to 9,258.28. The virus' death toll reached some 2,660 in China, while major public events were canceled in South Korea and Italy following outbreaks in those countries. Analysts pointed to bargain-hunting as a powerful incentive for the benign beginning to Tuesday's session in spite of anxiety over the outbreak. The market will consider later Tuesday a report on US consumer confidence. Dow member Home Depot climbed 2.3 percent after reporting higher fourth-quarter earnings following a 5.2 percent jump in comparable sales, topping estimates. But Mastercard dropped 1.1 percent as it forecast that first-quarter sales growth would be two to three percentage points below its prior projection due to the hit to cross-border traffic and e-commerce from the coronavirus. United Airlines shed 0.9 percent as it withdrew its full-year profit forecast, citing uncertainty from the virus. United has lost 100 percent of its near-term travel demand to China and about 75 percent of demand to the rest of its trans-Pacific routes. jmb/cs
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