The epidemic, which spread to four new U.S. states on Thursday, paralyzed supply chains and drastically reduced forecasts for global economic growth for 2020.
Yields on long-term US Treasuries have hit historic lows, wiping out the dollar’s biggest attraction to investors – higher interest rates.
This put pressure on rate-sensitive bank stocks, with the S&P financial index recording some of the biggest losses among the major subsectors. The banking sub-index was down 4.1%, bringing its total decline for the week to more than 7%.
“It is very difficult for market players to get through another year of weak global growth and stable to negative profits,” said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
Starbucks Corp fell 4% after reporting a hit due to declining number of customers in its Chinese stores, while Costco Wholesale Corp was down 2% as it said it was struggling to respond at the request of essential items, including disinfectants.
Despite the Federal Reserve’s attempt to consolidate financial markets by reducing interest rates, the Wall Street fear gauge marked its largest increase ever recorded this quarter and the S&P 500 benchmark seemed ready to close the week more than 13% below its record close on February 19.
Investors on Friday also looked at past data showing a robust hiring pace in February, highlighting panic over the potential end of the longest US economic expansion ever recorded.
At 10:18 a.m.ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 686.74 points, or 2.63%, to 25,434.54, while the S&P 500 was down 82.16 points, or 2.72%. , at 2941.78. The Nasdaq Composite lost 211.56 points, or 2.42%, to 8,527.04.
The 11 S&P sectors were all trading lower, driven by a 5.2% drop in energy stocks, which followed a drop in oil prices.
Travel-related stocks, which were battered in the past month due to paralyzed demand, traders bought the downside and Bank of America improved the ratings of their European counterparts.
The S&P 1500 airline index rose 3.6%, but was still nearing completion on Friday with its third consecutive weekly decline.
Falling emissions outnumbered the advancers by a ratio of 8.16: 1 on the NYSE and a ratio of 4.48: 1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and 135 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded eight new highs and 415 new lows.
