The S&P 500 was down 3.9 percent in midday trading Thursday.
Stocks and bond yields are down sharply on Wall Street as optimism that the reopening of businesses would drive a relatively quick economic recovery fades amid rising coronavirus cases in many U. S. states and countries.
The S&P 500 was down 3.9 percent in midday trading Thursday, extending its losses into a third straight day. The benchmark index is now on track for its first weekly drop in four weeks.
Nearly all of the companies in the S&P 500 were down. Technology, financial, industrial and health care stocks accounted for much of the market’s broad slide. Energy stocks were the biggest losers as crude oil prices fell sharply. Bond yields fell and the price of gold surged as worried investors shifted money into the traditional safe-haven assets.
MGM Resorts International and PVH, owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, were among the biggest decliners. Each was down more than 12 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,259 points, or 4.7 percent, to 25,730. The Nasdaq composite, which was coming off an all-time high, slid 3 percent. Small company stocks continued to bear the brunt of the selling. The Russell 2000 index was down 5.6 percent.
European and Asian markets also fell. The global markets sell-off came a day after the Federal Reserve warned that the road to recovery from the worst downturn in decades would be long.
The sell-off this week marks a reversal for the market, which rallied 44.
