Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange stabilized after a delayed start to trading on Tuesday morning, following heavy losses endured the day before as the novel coronavirus outbreak continued to instill fear in investors.
As of 10:40 a.m., the benchmark TA-35 index climbed 0.22%, and the TA-125 was down by 0.16%.Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange declined Monday as coronavirus fears continued to dictate global market activity. At the close, the TA-35 index fell 4.33%, and the TA-125 index dropped 4.68%.
Wall Street suffered its biggest drop since 1987 on Monday, with the S&P 500 closing at its lowest level since December 2018, as investors fear the coronavirus pandemic is proving a tougher opponent than central banks, lawmakers or the White House are currently capable of battling.
The S&P 500 tumbled 12%, its biggest drop since "Black Monday" three decades ago, despite the Federal Reserve's surprise move late Sunday to cut interest rates to near zero, its second emergency interest rate cut in less than two weeks and ahead of its scheduled policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
That added to alarm about the rapid spread of the pandemic and how it has paralyzed parts of the global economy and squeezed company revenue.
Stocks fell further late in the session as President Donald Trump urged Americans to halt most social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than 10 people, in a newly aggressive effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
"It's a market adrift with nothing to hold on to. There's nothing that can really give us a sense of when the full extent of the virus' impact will be known," said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab.
Trump also warned that a recession was possible.
Most market watchers at this point are bracing for the likelihood that the economy is headed for a recession, but they said it is too early to know the full extent of the economic downturn. Investors may be expecting a fairly deep recession but are just not sure how long it's going to last, Kleintop said.