Stocks slide in US, Europe as virus worries dominate again [View all]
Source: Associated Press
By STAN CHOE 6 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP) And back down goes the U.S. stock market.
The S&P 500 sank more than 2% in early trading Thursday as the market swung back to fear about the effects of a fast-spreading virus in its latest yo-yo move. Just a day earlier, the index had soared 4.2%, in part on hopes that more aggressive moves by governments and central banks around the world could help contain the economic fallout.
Get used to such vicious swings, which will likely keep going as long as the number of new infections continues to accelerate, many analysts and professional investors say. The S&P 500 has had four straight days where it has lurched by at least 2% in either direction, something that hasnt happened since since 2011.
In China, where the number of new infections has been slowing drastically, Shanghai-traded stocks have rallied nearly 12% since hitting a bottom on Feb. 3. Theyre just 1.6% away from wiping out the last of the losses theyve sustained since the new virus began to spread late last year.
Factories in China are gradually reopening, and a return to a sense of normal life may even be on the horizon following swift and severe actions by the government to corral the virus.
Read more: https://apnews.com/67a5f1559c0c052ea43a9f775204b596