Wall Street started the second quarter of 2020 with steep losses as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 900 points and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell over 4% each. Investors entered the market on Wednesday with the sentiment that the next two weeks were going to be extremely painful for the United States due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The International Monetary Fund warned world leaders on Wednesday that their approach to the pandemic should be as if they were facing a war. The international financial institution urged governments to provide key supplies to their health care sectors, cash transfers to the now unemployed and support like wage subsidies to private companies.
"If policies ensure that workers do not lose their jobs, renters and homeowners are not evicted, companies avoid bankruptcy, and business and trade networks are preserved, the recovery will occur sooner and more smoothly," IMF wrote in a blog post.
Here's how the market settled for the mid-week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -4.41% or -114.9 points to 2,470.5
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -4.44% or -973.65 points to 20,943.51
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -4.41% or -339.52 points to 7,360.58
In Major Stock News, Macy's (NYSE: M) stock fell on Wednesday after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that the major retailer will be removed from the S&P 500 Index and replaced by Carrier Global (NYSE: CARR). Shares of major American airlines--Alaska (NYSE: ALK), American (NASDAQ: AAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV) and United (NASDAQ: UAL)--all fell into a deeper sell-off on Wednesday as travel stocks continue to decline amid the pandemic. The merger between T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Sprint officially closed Wednesday morning, bumping up the telecomm's stock.
In Stock Sector News, all sectors fell into negative territory on Wednesday. The negative performance decline amid the sell-off was as follows: Utilities -6.12%, Real Estate -6.11%, Financials -5.97%, Information Technology -4.71%, Energy -4.64%, Materials -4.59%, Industrials -4.58%, Consumer Discretionary -3.97%, Communication Services -3.93%, Health Care -3.86% and Consumer Staples -1.83%.
In Commodity and Currency News, oil prices rose on Wednesday as President Donald Trump met with industry leaders to discuss how the administration can supply aid. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) rose over +5% and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) soared above +12% to bring barrel prices to $21-$26 each. Gold's (NYSE: GLD) price also increased as investors push back into safer commodities, with the metal's ounce price gaining +1.53%. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) gained as the week starts to close, with the DXY Index increasing +0.57%.