Wall Street’s top stocks barometer, the S&P500, closed down 0.2 percent at 3,321 after the US Centers for Disease Control said a traveller returning to the United States from China contracted the first American case of pneumonia caused by the virus.
Earlier in the session, the S&P500 matched the record high of 3,330 hit on Friday.
Aside from the S&P500, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.2 percent at 9,371.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street’s broadest equities barometer, closed up 0.5 percent at 29,186.
Tuesday’s slide, however, did little to dent a stocks rally that has continued strongly from last year.
The S&P500 is up 2.8 percent for 2020, after a 30 percent gain last year, while the Nasdaq is up 4.4 percent and the Dow Jones has added 2.3 percent for 2020.