The Dow Jones fell 3.11% to 21,234.90 points shortly before 4 p.m.
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The New York Stock Exchange fell sharply at the opening on Wednesday as the White House warned that the United States would face two “very very painful” weeks.
Around 1:50 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 3.11% to 21,234.90 points.
The highly technological Nasdaq was down 2.93% to 7,474.78 points, and the broad S&P 500 index was down 3.30% to 2,499.36 points.
Wall Street ended in red Tuesday the worst quarter since 1987 for the Dow Jones (-23%) and since 2008 for the S&P 500 (-20%), investors have been haunted by the coronavirus pandemic for several weeks.
“This certainly represents a unique drop for the market given its cause (…). The economy does not fall into recession due to a financial crisis or the disruption of a key product or energy source. It is social distancing, which forces people to stay at home and businesses to close, that disrupts economic activity, “said Art Hogan of National Holdings.
The very nature of the crisis may allow a rapid rebound, especially if the economic support measures of governments and central banks are implemented quickly and effectively, the expert said.
But “as long as the number of new cases reported does not peak, as is the case in China and South Korea, we will probably remain in a market environment similar to a roller coaster,” said Hogan. .
Investors on Wednesday were shaken by the latest forecasts from the White House, which estimated that the disease would kill between 100,000 and 240,000 people in the country if current restrictions were met.
“I want every American to be ready for the difficult days ahead,” said Donald Trump on Tuesday evening, “it will be two very very painful weeks.”
According to the monthly survey of the business services firm ADP, the health crisis led to the destruction of 27,000 jobs in the private sector in the United States in March, which is far below analysts’ forecasts (-175,000 jobs ).
But the numbers stop on March 12, before the massive containment measures and, therefore, “do not (reflect) all of the consequences of Covid-19 on the general employment situation,” said ADP.
On the bond market, the 10-year rate on the American debt fell further, and moved to 0.5988% against 0.6695% Tuesday at the close.
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