US markets end deeply in red after Fed surprise rate cut

04 Mar 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended deeply in red on Tuesday, after a volatile trading session, as the Federal Reserve announced a surprise decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 1 to 1-1/4 percent. The Fed was widely expected to wait until its next monetary policy meeting later this month to announce the rate cut. The move was partly seen as an effort to calm the markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak but may have served to raise concerns about how severely the central bank expects the epidemic to impact the economy. In an accompanying statement, the Fed said the fundamentals of the US economy remain strong but noted the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. The central bank added that it is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook and will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.

However, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that additional stimulus would come in the form of further rate cuts rather than tools like quantitative easing. The surprise move by the Fed came shortly after finance chiefs from the world’s largest economies released a statement pledging to use all appropriate policy tools to address the economic fallout from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The emergency rate cut, the first since the financial crisis, also came after President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the Fed to lower rates. In addition to the US, a number of countries have already acted independently, including the Reserve Bank of Australia and Malaysia’s central bank, which both reduced their benchmark interest rates Monday, citing coronavirus as the reason. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is working on measures to provide liquidity to businesses harmed by the outbreak.

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 785.91 points or 2.94 percent to 25,917.41, Nasdaq declined 268.08 points or 2.99 percent to 8,684.09 and S&P 500 was down 86.86 points or 2.81 percent to 3,003.37.


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