US markets settle sharply lower on Friday on virus jitters

27 Jun 2020 Evaluate

The US markets settled sharply lower on Friday as investors turned cautious and chose to exit counter following a sharp surge in new coronavirus infections in several states. Banking stocks, which had scored strong gains in the previous session reacting to reports US regulators plan to ease banking regulations and allow banks to more easily make investments in riskier funds, turned easy after the Fed released the results of the stress tests on banks. Disappointing earnings report from Nike also hurt sentiment. The Fed said the nation's biggest banks are healthy but could suffer up to $700 billion in losses on soured loans if the economy languishes. It also ordered certain banks to cap dividends and suspend share buyback to conserve funds.

The surge in new cases due to the coronavirus has raised the possibility of states re-imposing restrictions on businesses. The Trump administration has ruled out another lockdown, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that the state will pause its reopening plan due to the spike in coronavirus cases. The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the number of infected people in the US is most likely 10 times higher than what was officially reported. CDC Director Robert Redfield told that his estimate is based on growing data from antibody testing. That means as many as 24 million Americans might have contracted the coronavirus. Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that global infections are expected to top 10 million next week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 730.05 points or 2.84 percent to 25,015.55, Nasdaq declined 259.78 points or 2.59 percent 9,757.22 and S&P 500 was down by 74.71 points or 2.42 percent to 3,009.05.

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