Steep sell-off accelerates on Wall Street amid coronavirus crisis

U.S. equities plunged in choppy trading on Wednesday as panic selling continued on Wall Street amid coronavirus fears.

The S&P 500 tumbled 7 percent at around 1 p.m. Eastern Time, triggering a key circuit breaker that halted trading for 15 minutes. It was the second time this week that the circuit breaker has been tipped and the fourth time since last week.

Market sell-off accelerated after trading was resumed. The Dow shed more than 9 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both declined more than 8 percent at one point.

The slide came despite Washington’s massive stimulus plan to counter the virus impact.

The White House is seeking a stimulus package worth as much as 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in spending, including direct payments to Americans, to cushion the U.S. economy from coronavirus fallout, local media reported Tuesday.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched 250 billion dollars in checks to be sent at the end of April with a second set of checks totaling 500 billion dollars four weeks later if there is still a national emergency, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.

President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. economy “may be” heading toward a recession and that the COVID-19 outbreak could last for months.

The Federal Reserve on Sunday cut its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point to near zero and pledged to boost its bond holdings by at least 700 billion dollars amid mounting fears over the COVID-19 outbreak.

Source: Xinhua