U.S. stock futures tumble as Trump's virus response disappoints

By Tom Westbrook

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures tumbled on Thursday and were close to hitting their daily down limit after President Donald Trump’s speech outlining the administration’s response to the coronavirus epidemic disappointed investors.

S&P 500 () futures fell as much as 4.7% to 2,610 points, near the daily downlimit of 2,601 points.

“The market is not applauding the president’s address,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial (NYSE:) in Newark.

“Investors were expecting perhaps a more detailed outline of targeted stimulus and I think, according to the futures market at least, it left investors wanting. We could have this going through all the night, but the knee-jerk reaction showed a market that could have a difficult opening if we don’t pare some of those early futures losses.”

Trump said the United States will suspend all travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days. The restrictions do not apply to the United Kingdom. He also outlined steps to help small businesses and workers affected by the virus.

The travel ban spooked markets, deepening worries about the economic slowdown.

The collapse in futures in Asian trade portends a further drop in the main U.S. stock indexes on Thursday, after their already deep falls on Wednesday that saw the Dow () confirming a bear market for the first time since the financial crisis.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.