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Coronavirus Panic Infects Stock Markets

Steve Herman

   WHITE HOUSE - As normal life in the United States quickly came to a
   halt with mandated closures of businesses beginning in many states,
   stock prices on Wall Street plunged early Monday.

   Despite an extraordinary move taken by the Federal Reserve a day
   earlier to boost investor confidence, the S&P 500 index fell 8 percent
   in the opening seconds, prompting an automatic 15-minute halt to stock
   trading. When trading resumed, stocks prices continued to dive (with
   the Dow Jones Industrial average losing as much as 2,500 points -- a
   drop of 11 percent).

   The Fed, which is America's central bank, on Sunday made an emergency
   cut to interest rates, bringing them to near zero, amid deep concern
   that the coronavirus pandemic will hit corporate revenue globally.
   Despite the move, Asia markets fell sharply in Monday trading, a
   harbinger of what would happen hours later on Wall Street.

   The White House had scheduled an early Monday briefing by its
   coronavirus task force, led by Vice President Mike Pence. Reporters
   were notified the news conference was to be delayed by five hours (to
   3:30PM EST).

   U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday joined a video conference with
   other G7 leaders to coordinate action in response to COVID-19, the
   disease caused by the coronavirus. That was prior to a scheduled video
   conference with all 50 U.S. state governors on the same topic.

   Trump and other members of his administration are seeking to quell a
   panicky nation, after the shelves at many stores across the country
   went bare due to hoarding amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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