Stock Market Futures Plunge As First US Coronavirus Case From Unknown Source Confirmed

No market-saving rallies on Wall Street are expected either Thursday or Friday -- extending a massive rout that began Monday -- as Thursday's stock market futures slumped, and U.S. health authorities confirmed the first community spread of COVID-19 in the country Wednesday.

Both these bits of bad news are expected to intensify a sell-off that began Monday and abated somewhat Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 2,000 points from Monday to Wednesday while the S&P lost an astonishing $1.7 trillion on Monday and Tuesday alone.

Analysts on Wednesday predicted a 400 point plunge in the Dow when trading opens Thursday following the report of first confirmed community transmission of COVID-19 in the U.S. A community transmission or a community spread is one in which the source of infection is unknown. What this basically means is the U.S. will likely follow the paths of Italy, South Korea and Iran, which are now grappling with a far too rapid and widespread in-country transmission of COVID-19.

A sharp drop in U.S. stock futures Thursday morning signal significant declines at Thursday's open, confirming the failure by president Donald Trump to talk-up Wall Street by repeatedly claiming COVID-19's risk to American people remains very low.

As of 12:48 a.m. ET, Dow futures fell 379 points to herald a plunge of 400.59 points at Thursday’s open. S&P 500 futures and NASDAQ 100 futures also pointed to opening declines.

Worries are mounting over how COVID-19 will impact corporate profits and global economic growth as the disease’s toll worldwide continues to mount. Even more worrying for the West is an announcement by the World Health Organization the number of confirmed cases outside China had exceeded those reported inside China for the first time Wednesday.

This unsettling international spike is now centered in Europe, where Italy (Ground Zero for the outbreak) reported 374 confirmed cases and 12 deaths as of early Thursday morning, New York time.

France has reported 18 cases and 2 deaths; Germany, 21 cases and no deaths; the United Kingdom, 13 cases and no deaths; Spain, 12 cases and no deaths. Croatia, Austria and Sweden have two cases apiece and no deaths. Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Northern Macedonia, Norway and Romania have one case each with no deaths.

There are currently 82,140 confirmed cases worldwide and 2,801 deaths. Of this total, 78,497 cases and 2,744 deaths are in Mainland China.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wednesday said the first community transmission patient is a resident of Solano County in California. This person is being treated in Sacramento County. CDC said the patient hasn't traveled recently to a foreign country and hasn't had any known contact with a confirmed case.

“It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States," said CDC to San Francisco TV station, KRON4. CDC also said it's possible the patient might have been exposed to the coronavirus by an infected returned traveler.