Stocks dive deep in red amid global pandemic declaration

The US stocks dived deep in the red territory as the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. The major indexes opened lower on Wednesday after a higher closing yesterday amid persistent concerns about its economic impact.

At 2:08 pm, the stocks have taken a deep dive in the negative territory with the S&P 500 dipping 4.71% to 2,746.38, the Dow 30 falling 5.16% to 23,727.72, and the Nasdaq is down 4.66% at 7,955.76. On Tuesday, the market ended higher with Dow soaring 4.9% to 25,018.16, the Nasdaq advanced 5% to 8,344.25, and the S&P 500 surged up 4.9% to 2,882.23.

There were more than 121,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus globally with the deaths nearing 4,400, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The total recovered from the virus has reached just above 66,000. The number of confirmed cases in the US has jumped to over 1,000.

The stock markets around the world continue to experience dramatic falls due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which left the business world paralyzed. On Monday, the US markets experienced a temporary halt in trading as the stocks dipped sharply after the open due to the oil price plunge and virus spreading fears.

The virus has been spreading at a faster rate outside the China region and managed into the pandemic territory. There remained downside risks to the economy due to the virus spread. The market experts believe that the US economy could be slipping into a recession if the infection continues to weaken the market.

Read: Is the US economy heading into a recession?

The WHO expects the number of confirmed cases, deaths and affected countries to climb even higher as the cases have been increased thirteenfold. The declaring a pandemic will lead to more stringent travel and trade restrictions that could further rattle already fragile world markets.

The health agency has warned the 81 countries, which doesn’t have any confirmed cases, and the 57 countries, which have 10 or fewer cases, about the alarming level of the virus spread and severity. However, the agency believes that cases in China and South Korea have significantly declined.

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