US markets end lower after Trump imposes restrictions on travel from Europe

13 Mar 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended deeply in red on Thursday, following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, with the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 10 percent. With the sell-off on the day, the Dow recorded its biggest one-day percentage drop since the stock market crash of 1987 and the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 joined the blue chip index in bear market territory. Concerns about the impact of the coronavirus continued to weigh on the markets after President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the outbreak. Trump was likely seeking to calm the markets but instead exacerbated concerns by announcing a ban on all travel from Europe to the US for the next 30 days. Markets fell even after the Federal Reserve took the highly unusual step of injecting more money into the bond market to stabilize the financial systems amid growing panic about the coronavirus and its stranglehold on the economy. The New York Fed will pump $1.5 trillion into the short-term lending markets that banks use to lend to each other on Thursday and Friday. The central bank also announced it will buy $60 billion worth of Treasury bonds for the next month (March 13 through April 13) to help keep that market functioning appropriately.

On the economic data front, partly reflecting a steep drop in energy prices, the Labor Department released a report showing US producer prices declined by much more than expected in the month of February. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand slid by 0.6 percent in February after climbing by 0.5 percent in January. Street had expected the index to edge down by 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly showed a modest decrease in the week ended March 7, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 211,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 218,000 from the 216,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,352.6 points or 9.99 percent to 21,200.62, Nasdaq declined 750.25 points or 9.43 percent to 7,201.8 and S&P 500 was down by 260.74 points or 9.51 percent to 2,480.64.

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