Dow plunges more than 800 points as COVID-19 cases spike

[left-of-center2012]

Stocks took a tumble Wednesday morning amid uncertainty over rising virus cases and with less than a week to go before the U.S. presidential vote.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 800 points, or approximately 3%, early Wednesday. The S&P 500 slipped 3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also slid 3% Wednesday morning.

The sell-off, which began earlier this week, comes amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Last Friday, some seven months into the crisis, the nation hit a new all-time high of 83,757 new cases in a single day. The spike in virus cases and the looming threat of further lockdown measures to quell its spread -- that could potentially hit businesses hard -- have also fueled the mounting uncertainty among investors.

The uncertainty has been compounded as hopes for new stimulus measures remain dim -- further shaking investors' confidence. Randy Frederick, the vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab, said that essentially the "clock has run out" for hopes of new stimulus measures being passed ahead of the election.

"The negotiations between Nancy Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin have pretty much been put on hold now that Congress has left D.C., so the odds of any form of new stimulus being enacted prior to election is pretty close to zero," he said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/dow-plunges-700-points-covid-19-cases-spike/story?id=73877199

[RazzleCat]

1. this is bad, not because it hurts Trump (that's good), rather

because I know the majority of Americans do not have a lot of stock (or even any stock), but those who do have it in their 401 will now take a hit if they need to tap it because they are out of work. Please don't yell at me, but I can remember a time when due to certain economic situations the government removed the fine (not the taxes) on 401 K access (or it may have only been government employees during a shut down). My point still holds, for many people they don't have much in a 401, but its all that's left so selling in a down market is a super hard hit, taxes, fines (if applicable), and loss (selling low).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. It's back up a bit, but the day is still young.

And a three percent drop simply isn't that huge. People should be invested for the long run, and so unless you only started buying stocks (or mutual funds) earlier in October, you are just fine. And even if you did, hang in there.

[ffr]

3. Maybe tRump should double down and add another $7T to the debt he's added already

That should prop up corporate profits enough in the next week. They he can write another billion dollar check to himself as autocratic king of the United States.

Our economy is a facade!