The US markets ended lower on Wednesday as the latest earnings and economic reports reminded investors of the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Financial giants Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) all reported sharply lower first quarter earnings. The steep drop in earnings comes as the major banks set aside billions of dollars to prepare for a flood of defaults on loans due to the coronavirus-induced economic shutdown. Adding to the negative sentiment, the Commerce Department released a report showing a sharp decline in US retail sales in the month of March. The Commerce Department said retail sales plummeted by 8.7 percent in March after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in February. Street had expected retail sales to plunge by 8.0 percent compared to the 0.5 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report from the New York Federal Reserve showed New York manufacturing activity contracted at the fastest rate on record in the month of April. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index plummeted to a negative 78.2 in April from a negative 21.5 in March, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. The index was expected to slump to a negative 35.0. With the much bigger than expected nosedive, the general business conditions index plunged to its lowest level in the history of the survey-by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released a report showing the biggest monthly drop in US industrial production in over seventy years in the month of March. The report said industrial production plunged by 5.4 percent in March after rising by a downwardly revised 0.5 percent in February.
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 445.41 points or 1.86 percent to 23,504.35, Nasdaq declined 122.56 points 1.44 percent to 8,393.18 and S&P 500 was down by 62.7 points or 2.2 percent to 2,783.36.
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