US markets end deeply in red on coronavirus fears

17 Mar 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended sharply lower on Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering its worst day since the Black Monday market crash in 1987 and its third-worst day ever - even after the Federal Reserve embarked on a massive monetary stimulus campaign to curb slower economic growth amid the coronavirus outbreak. The US Federal Reserve reduced the interest rate to near zero as the coronavirus outbreak harmed communities and disrupted economic activity. Further, the Fed said it will increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $500 billion and its holdings of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $200 billion. Trading was halted for 15 minutes shortly after the open as a then-8% drop on the S&P 500 triggered a so-called circuit breaker. The markets fell to their lows into the close after President Donald Trump said the worst of the outbreak could last until August. He also said the US may be heading into a recession.

On the economic data front, New York manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in the month of March, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index plunged to a negative 21.5 in March from a positive 12.9 in February, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. Street had expected the general business conditions index to show a much more modest decrease and remain positive at 4.0. The steeper than expected represented the largest point decrease on record and dragged the index down to its lowest level since 2009. The sharp decline by the headline index came as the new orders index plummeted to a negative 9.3 in March from a positive 22.1 in February and the shipments index tumbled to a negative 1.7 from a positive 18.9 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,997.1 points or 12.93 percent to 20,188.52, Nasdaq drooped 970.28 points or 12.32 percent to 6,904.59 and S&P 500 was down by 324.89 points or 11.98 percent to 2,386.13.


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