The health crisis has increasingly become an economic one.
The coronavirus pandemic has quickly evolved from a health crisis to a financial one, shuttering businesses, upending entire industries and sending financial markets reeling.
Here’s the latest news on how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the economy. For more on financial resources available during the pandemic, click here.
After three-day rally, markets slip Friday
After three days of back-to-back gains, U.S. financial markets slipped Friday as the coronavirus pandemic wages on.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 700 points, or over 3%, when U.S. markets opened Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also both dropped approximately 3% Friday morning.
The United States now has nearly 86,000 cases of COVID-19, the highest number in the world. At least 1,300 people have died in the U.S.
Moreover, in New York City — the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic — Mayor Bill de Blasio projected Friday morning that “over half the people in this city will ultimately be infected.”
Equity markets have seesawed for weeks as the COVID-19 outbreak has sowed uncertainty among investors.
A $2 trillion stimulus package to help lessen the blow of the outbreak on the economy was approved by the Senate earlier this week, leading to the three-day market rally ahead of Friday’s tumble.
