Wall Street fell to deeper lows during Wednesday's session as investors digested Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks on the state of the U.S. economy alongside worries about the current market's valuation. Powell undercut the previous hopes that the economy would be able to bounce back quickly, or a V-shaped recovery.
"The recovery may take some time to gather momentum, and the passage of time can turn liquidity problems into solvency problems," Powell stated over webcast for the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Wednesday.
Powell said that more needed to be done to support the economy, stating that "while the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks." Powell reaffirmed that the central bank will continue to aid the economy through this crisis until it begins to recover.
Here's how the market ended for the midweek:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -1.75% or -50.12 points to 2,820.00
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -2.17% or -516.81 points to 23,247.97
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -1.55% or -139.38 points to 8,863.17
In Major Stock News, stay-at-home tech giants Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) both gain despite the broader market on Wednesday. big banks--Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC)--all fell with the broader market as Powell warned of a more prolonged economic downturn. Travel stocks--American (NASDAQ: AAL), Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Norwegian (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV) and United (NASDAQ: UAL)--all fell as investors still fear about a longer pandemic. JCPenny (NYSE: JCP) shares jumped after a report found that the department store chain is it talks with lenders ahead of bankruptcy that could come as soon as Friday.
In Stock Sector News, every sector continued to take a hit throughout Wednesday's session. The performance declines were as follows: Energy -4.39%, Financials -3.01%, Industrials -2.56%, Materials -2.18%, Information Technology -1.69%, Communication Services -1.62%, Real Estate -1.61%, Consumer Discretionary -1.21%, Health Care -1.10%, Consumer Staples -0.91% and Utilities -0.90%.
In Commodity and Currency News, crude oil futures fell again on demand fears even as some counties begin to reopen their economies. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) settled lower by 1.9% to $25.29 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) slipped 2% to price at $29.19. Gold (NYSE: GLD) increased +9% with the overall investment fears to price at $1,722 per ounce. Lastly, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) fell -0.08%.
For Thursday, market participants will focus on the weekly jobless claims report as well as more news surrounding the coronavirus and reopenings.