Coronavirus Worries Continue on Wall Street

Last week's lousy performance on Wall Street is continuing. The markets opened in bleak shape Monday: The Dow fell more than 700 points, or 2.7%, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were in similar straits. As with last week, when the Dow lost 5.5% and the benchmark S&P 4.7%, investors are worried that new outbreaks of the coronavirus in the US and around the world will put a damper on recovery, reports the Wall Street Journal. Stocks in Europe and Asia also fell, with Japan's Nikkei down about 3.5%. Cruise lines, airlines, and retailers were among the stocks hardest hit in futures trading, notes CNBC.

“The timeline for the virus is being extended," Edward Park of Brooks Macdonald, a London asset-management firm, tells the Journal. "It’s becoming clear that it’s a choice of allowing economies to open and take the public health hit, or lock down countries and take the economic hit." In the US, Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin said last week that shutting down the economy again will do more harm than good. In New York, meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that he might order another shutdown if businesses continue to ignore safety rules. (More stock market stories.)