Stocks – Bears Resume Grip on Dow as Fed-Stimulus Optimism Runs out of Steam

By Yasin Ebrahim 

Investing.com – Selling resumed on Wall Street Thursday as the wave of buying following the Federal Reserve’s bold liquidity package ran out of steam amid fears that extra stimulus will do little stem the coronavirus-led blow to global supply chains.

The fell 8.2% after cutting losses to around 3% on the Fed announcement. The was off 8.6% and the fell 7.9%.

The Federal Reserve announced measures to combat “temporary disruptions” in funding markets, pledging $1.5 trillion in fresh liquidity.

The central bank said it would offer $500 billion in a three-month repo operation today, which would be followed up with $500 billion in a three-month repo operation and $500 billion in a one-month repo operation.

The Fed has been supporting the short-term funding market for months now in an effort to avoid a repeat of the liquidity crunch in September last year, when short-term funding rates surged, triggering a sharp selloff on Wall Street.

The central bank has railed against calls that its liquidity purchases mark a new form of quantitative easing, stressing that its $60 billion balance sheet expansion was not QE because the purchases were short-term securities. But the Fed on Thursday said it would now extend its purchases “across a range of maturities” to include bills, notes, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities as well as other instruments. The purchases start Thursday and would continue through April 13.

Travel and cruise stocks were the worst hit, with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:) down 25% and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:) down 16%. American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:) was down 8% and United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:) slumped 17%.

In the U.S., New York became the latest state to announce a ban on gatherings of 500 or more people to limit the outbreak.

Other states, including Washington and San Francisco, announced similar measures earlier this week.

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