Stocks continued taking a significant tumble Thursday, entering correction territory, as investors’ fears grow regarding the spread of coronavirus.
The S&P 500 closed down 4.4% on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 4.4% as well.
A chart from Deutsche Bank showed that the S&P entered correction territory — where stocks fall 10% below their peak — faster than ever before.
Incredible chart from Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slok. This is the fastest stock market correction in history pic.twitter.com/CEtY4t3CQS
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) February 27, 2020
All this is clearly on President Trump’s mind, with the Washington Post reporting this week that Trump has been “highly concerned about the market and has encouraged aides not to give predictions that might cause further tremors.”
Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump tasked Wednesday night to lead the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak, announced Thursday that both White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had been added to the administration’s coronavirus task force.
During his press conference Wednesday night, Trump said that the stock market “certainly took a hit” because of the coronavirus outbreak, but suggested that Democratic presidential candidates also were to blame following the debate in South Carolina the night before.
“I think [investors] look at the people — you watched [the debate] last night and they say, ‘If there’s even a possibility that that could happen’ — I think it really takes a hit because of that,” Trump said.
