US STOCKS-S&P 500 loses ground amid China virus outbreak, growth fears

* Airlines, travel stocks hit by China virus fears
* Morgan Stanley drops after Citi downgrade
* Halliburton up after profit beats estimates
* Indexes down: Dow 0.18%, S&P 0.14%, Nasdaq flat

(Changes comment, updates prices)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 21 (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 slipped on Tuesday
as worries about the fallout from a deadly virus outbreak in
China and a gloomy growth outlook from the IMF prompted
investors to lock in recent gains.
The developments soured mood among U.S. investors who drove
the main indexes to record highs last week, encouraged by strong
data, the signing of the Phase 1 U.S.-China trade deal and an
upbeat start to fourth-quarter earnings season.
Chinese officials on Tuesday confirmed the new coronavirus
outbreak took six lives and that it could spread between humans,
stoking fears of a global pandemic and reviving memories of
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — another coronavirus
outbreak that killed nearly 800 people in 2002-03. With the virus spreading just ahead of the Chinese New Year
holidays, the S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR fell 2.4%.
Hotel and casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp LVS.N and
Wynn Resorts Ltd WYNN.O , both of which have large operations
in China, dropped about 5%.
Booking.com owner Booking Holdings Inc BKNG.O and
TripAdvisor Inc TRIP.O both fell about 2%.
"It remains to be seen if this will transpire into a bigger
more systematic event that will start weighing on fundamentals,"
said Mike Loewengart, vice president of investment strategy at
E*TRADE Financial Corp.
"Anytime you have a run in the equity markets, it's not
surprising to see small unexpected rifts. It's giving investors
a reason to take some profits."
At 11:23 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 0.18% to 29,296.41 and the S&P 500 .SPX dropped 0.14% to
3,325.09.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was flat at 9,388.58, buoyed by
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and a 6.3% jump in Tesla Inc TSLA.O .
Netflix Inc NFLX.O and International Business Machines
Corp IBM.N are set to report earnings after market closes.
Another cause for concern was the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) trimming its global growth forecasts for 2020 and
2021. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday
that while a slowdown in global growth appeared to have bottomed
out, there was no rebound in sight. Halliburton Co HAL.N rose 1.7% after the oilfield service
reported better-than-expected quarterly adjusted earnings.
Morgan Stanley MS.N slid 3.6% after Citigroup downgraded
the Wall Street bank's shares to "neutral".
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.55-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and a 1.37-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 80 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 110 new highs and 24 new lows.