A late wave of buying left major U.S. stock indexes with modest gains on Wall Street after spending most of the day in the red. Technology companies and banks did the best. Investors were assessing the latest company earnings reports and developments in the outbreak of a new virus in China. The S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.3%, to 3,283. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 124 points, or 0.4%, to 28,859. The Nasdaq rose 23 points, or 0.3%, to 9,298. Smaller company stocks fell. Bond prices rose.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.58%.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Major U.S. stock indexes were essentially flat in afternoon trading Thursday after shedding some of their losses from earlier in the day.

The wobbly trading came as investors assessed the latest company earnings reports and monitored developments in the outbreak of a new virus in China.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency Thursday after the number of cases spiked tenfold in a week. The new type of coronavirus is starting to spread to people outside China, which is essentially on lockdown. There are currently more than 7,800 confirmed cases, mostly in central China, and 170 deaths, mostly in Hubei province.

Concerns about the spread of the virus and its impact were overshadowing mostly positive corporate earnings reports.

“It’s a bit of a risk-off situation here on the back of increased coverage and increased cases of the virus being reported,” said Mike Stritch, chief investment officer of BMO Wealth Management. “There’s a sentiment reaction. It’s still really early to tell the economic impact here, but clearly it’s more of a headwind than a tail wind.”

Companies are increasingly issuing warnings over the potential impact to profits and revenue. Align Technology, which makes tooth-straightening systems, gave investors a weak profit forecast because of the virus.

Starbucks has already held back on raising its forecast for the year and airlines are starting to curtail flights to Chinese cities because of weak demand.

Health care and communications companies led the losses Thursday. Anthem dropped 2.9% and Facebook fell 6%.

Industrial stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending also fell. General Electric dropped 2.4% and Starbucks slid 1.4%.

Technology companies were among the gainers, getting a lift from solid earnings by Microsoft, ServiceNow and Lam Research.

Financial sector stocks also rose. Franklin Resources led the pack, gaining 4.6%.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index edged up 0.1% as of 3:45 p.m. Eastern time. The index had been down 0.9% earlier in the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed an early slide. It was up 66 points, or 0.2%, to 28,806. The Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

Smaller company stocks took the brunt of the selling. The Russell 2000 index slid 0.3%.

OVERSEAS: Markets in Europe and Asia fell. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was hit particularly hard, shedding 2.6%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.7%. Markets in mainland China are still closed for Lunar New Year holiday.

SAFETY DANCE: Jitters over the virus outbreak had many investors seeking less risky assets. That drove up the price of U.S. government bonds and gold. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slid to 1.57% from 1.59% late Wendesday.

The price of gold climbed $6.60 to $1,577 per ounce. Gold prices are up 20% over the past year.

CLOUD COMPUTING: Microsoft rose 2.9% after the software maker handily beat Wall Street’s fiscal second-quarter profit forecasts on its growing cloud computing business. The company said that revenue from its Azure cloud computing business grew 62% percent. The company is trying to catch up to the leading cloud provider, Amazon, and received a big boost in October from a $10 billion U.S. Department of Defense contract.

FULL CHARGE: Tesla surged 10.9% after the electric vehicle maker blew past Wall Street’s fourth-quarter earnings forecasts on record sales. The company also told investors that it is ramping up production of the Model Y small SUV, which is a key product because consumers are buying smaller utility vehicles.

UP IN SMOKE: Altria slid 4.7% after the maker of Marlboro cigarettes reported a hefty costs because of its investment in e-cigarette maker Juul.

Altria took a 35% stake in Juul at the end of 2018 and that company has since faced a surge in federal and state investigations into its marketing amid an explosion of underage vaping teenagers.

BOTCHED DELIVERY: Shares in UPS skidded 6.7% after the package delivery company gave investors a disappointing profit forecast.