U.S. Futures Plunge as WHO Issues Scary Airborne Coronavirus Warning

The U.S. stock market is set to drop by around 4% on the day’s open, as Dow futures indicate a 720-point drop. It comes after the World Health Organization (WHO)’s unexpectedly warning the coronavirus has the ability to survive in the air. The precautions about the survivability of coronavirus are being issued as the virus outbreak rapidly sweeps across several highly-infected states, including New York and California.

According to data from worldometer, the number of total coronavirus cases in the U.S. has exceeded 35,000. That is more than seven times the cases in South Korea, which was the most infected country outside of China merely a month ago. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on March 20 that total coronavirus cases in the U.S. are hovering at 15,000. Within less than three days, that number has more than doubled.

The swift expansion of the virus outbreak prompted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to controversially state that 80% of individuals could be infected in the state.

The Dow Jones has already fallen to the low 19,000-point region, and there is little support at a technical level from the current area to 18,300 points. The U.S. stock market remains vulnerable in the short-term to a steeper correction as the $2 trillion relief package set forth by the Treasury hits a roadblock with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s disapproval. With the WHO’s warning that coronavirus can stay in the air prolonged periods of time and the declining sentiment in regarding the containment of the virus in the U.S., the stock market faces another tough week ahead.

The Federal Reserve is not holding back on introducing as many stimuli as possible to recover the U.S. stock market. The Fed has said that it will lend $1 trillion to the nation’s banks every day until the end of March, 4 Steven Friedman, a former economist at the New York Fed, said the Fed will not hesitate in buying treasuries and mortgage-backed securities in the near-future, as the stock market and the economy fall deeper into recession. The problem is that these fiscal policies, even with a zero interest rate in place, is not slowing down the downtrend of the stock market.

U.S. Futures Plunge as WHO Issues Scary Airborne Coronavirus Warning, CCN, Mar 23