The virus crisis has a firm grip on the US stock exchanges. After a slight stabilization on the previous day, things went down significantly again on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial lost almost 1200 points and closed below the 26,000 point mark at its lowest level since August 2019.
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After the Wall Street Index contained its early trading losses, a new downward pull began in the final hour of trading. The Dow ended the day with a negative 4.42 percent to 25,766.64 points. Since its record high about two weeks ago, the leading US index has dropped by almost 13 percent. Since the beginning of the week alone, there have been a little more than eleven percent.
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The market-wide S&P 500 also lost 4.42 percent on Thursday to 2978.76 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 4.93 percent to 8,436.67 points.
“The pace at which the markets are falling is high,” said an exchange strategist. At the same time, it is still not possible to predict when it will be over. However, it will probably be a while before the Dow and the other indices find their bottom, the market participant said.
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Oil prices also declined sharply in the face of growing concerns about the global economy and hit new lows after more than a year. The first observers are now seeing signs of panic. The US dollar also fell, while US government bonds were again in strong demand. In return, the interest rate on the ten-year bonds, which are considered the world’s most important debt securities, fell to a new record low. Gold was also in demand. In uncertain times, currencies such as the yen, francs or euros as well as government bonds and gold are considered relatively safe havens.
The US President has also so far not been able to calm the markets. Donald Trump had warned of panic following warnings from the CDC that the new coronavirus was spreading in the United States. He said that the risk to Americans was “very low” and that the government was “fully prepared”.
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