Dow Ends With 4.4% Loss On Worsening Covid-19 Crisis

Wall Street stocks were battered on Wednesday as the human and economic toll from the coronavirus continued to rise and more state governments shut down activity to try to contain the outbreak.

The Dow Jones lost about 975 points, or 4.4 percent to finish the day at 20,943.

The S&P 500 also dropped 4.4 percent to end at 2,470, as did the Nasdaq, which closed at 7,360.

The rout translated into a bruising open to the second quarter after major indices suffered their biggest losses in years in the January-March period.

Stocks were in the red all day following a gloomy White House press conference on Tuesday night when President Donald Trump warned of "hard days" ahead and health experts said the US death count could reach 240,000 people.

More bad news came later as the number of coronavirus cases continued to rise and Florida - one of the last major states that was still largely operational - headed to a 30-day stay-at-home policy following an order from the governor.

US private hiring fell in March by 27,000 the biggest - and only - drop since September 2017, according to the monthly report from payrolls firm ADP, but economists warn that the statistics underestimate the losses as will the official employment report due out on Friday.

A survey of manufacturers by the Institute for Supply Management pointed to a further contraction in that sector in March, although again some of the data was taken too early in the month to reflect the severity of the hit.

"I've never seen anything move as quickly as this," said Timothy Fiore, chair of ISM's manufacturing survey. "We haven't hit the bottom of this."

Markets also are girding for another huge jump in first-time unemployment claims on Thursday. (AFP)