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Investing.com – The Dow continued to languish at session lows on Wednesday, a day after suffering its worst first-quarter lost ever as fears over the Covid-19 pandemic continued to grip stocks and fresh concerns mount about China has deliberately under-reported infections and deaths in the country.
The Dow fell 3.63%, or 796 points, but was more than a 1,000 points at the lows of the day. The S&P 500 slipped 1.56% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.85%.
President Donald Trump’s grim warning that a “painful two weeks” lie ahead for the U.S. as coronavirus infections continued to mount nationwide also weighed, with cases topping 190,000 nationwide and deaths rising to about 4,100 so far.
In New York state, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., cases rose to 83,712 from 75,795 on Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
China’s road to recovery from the outbreak, meanwhile, suffered a setback after a county in central China’s Henan province went into lockdown, following several infections in the area, Reuters reported.
The fresh outbreak comes as some question whether China has concealed the real number of infections and deaths in the country.
China has deliberately under-reported the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the country, the U.S. intelligence community told the White House, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
Defensive corners of the market were unable to sidestep the sea of red on Wall Street, with real estate and utility stocks pacing the broader market decline.
Energy, meanwhile, was also caught up in the selloff storm, pressured by falling oil prices as fears about a glut in supply mount as the U.S. inventories continue to build.
