Worst week since 2008: US stocks hit hard as Covid-19 keeps hammering world of finance

Wall Street’s rollercoaster ride has continued for another day, as the Dow Jones closed down 4.6 percent, erasing the modest gains made the previous day. The Covid-19 pandemic has hammered investor confidence around the world.

As trading on Wall Street finished for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sat at just over 19,000 points, down 4.6 percent from a day earlier, after a week in which the gains of the Trump administration were wiped out by panic over the Covid-19 coronavirus.

The S&P 500 Index closed down 4.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.7 percent.

As the New York Stock Exchange’s closing bell rang, traders could look back on their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. With the Covid-19 pandemic deepening, neither President Donald Trump’s promise of a trillion-dollar stimulus package, nor efforts by the Federal Reserve to boost liquidity, could halt the downward spiral.

Even though stocks briefly ticked upwards on Thursday, US financial institutions are predicting a global recession. Bank of America’s chief economist Michelle Meyer told clients earlier that day that “jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed,” and warned that the US economy may contract by 12 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

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