Stocks on Wall Street plummeted Tuesday as oil prices hit a two-decade low a day after some U.S. crude oil futures turned negative for the first time ever, underlining worries about deep economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.
Fred Katayama reports.
The Dow dropped nearly 600 points minutes after the market opened Tuesday, stretching a sell-off into a second straight session.
An historic collapse in U.S. oil prices frightened investors about the extent of economic damage wrought by health crisis as gloomy earnings forecasts foreshadowed the deepest economic slump since the Great Depression.
In mid-morning trading, the Dow and S&P 500 declined more than 2%, and the Nasdaq shed over 3%.
Economists polled by Reuters now think the U.S. recession that's underway will be worse than previously thought.
Nearly half of the 45 respondents say the economic recovery will be "U" shaped – meaning a longer period of low-growth before a rebound.
Just ten economists forecast more-optimistic "V-shaped” recovery.
What's more, those polled are now more pessimistic than ever about the overall hit to the American economy, forecasting GDP to shrink another 30% in the current quarter.
That's sharply lower than the 20% they had estimated in a poll three weeks ago.
Back on Wall Street, stocks fell nearly across the board, including shares of Coca-Cola.
The beverage giant forecast a material hit to results in the second quarter as restaurants, theaters and other venues that make up about half of the company's revenue remain closed.
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