US stocks deepened their selling yesterday, and the Dow Jones index has virtually erased its gains since President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017, as the growing repercussions of the Corona epidemic threaten to hamper economic activity.
The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 5.2%, although it trimmed losses late in the day as the US Senate passed legislation to provide billions of dollars to reduce damage from the spread of the virus.
In a move likely to add to concern, the New York Stock Exchange owner, Intercontinental Exchange Inc, said after the closing bell that the New York Stock Exchange would temporarily close its trading rooms and move fully to electronic trading from Monday.
The New York Stock Exchange said that a floor trader and employee of the New York Stock Exchange confirmed their infection with the Coronavirus.
With yesterday's close, the Dow rose just 0.4% from what it was on January 20, 2017, Trump's inauguration day, although it has remained almost 9% high since Trump unexpectedly won the presidential election on November 8, 2016, often What is referred to as "Trump Bump".
The S&P 500 is now down nearly 29% from its record closing high of 19 February.
In one of the most pessimistic forecasts released so far, a JP Morgan economist said that the US economy could contract by 4% in the first quarter of 2020 and 14% in the next quarter, and this year is likely to shrink by 1.5 %.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1,333.46 points, or 6.3%, to the level of 19898.92, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 131.09 points, or 5.18%, to the level of 2398.1, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 344.94 points, or 4.7%, to 6989.84 level.
Dramatic stimulus measures only provided short-term rebound in stocks, as investors took into account the global recession and worried about the duration of the damage extending through the summer. Yesterday's sell-off resulted in another 15-minute stop at a 7% drop on another day of volatile trading.
