Wall Street fell sharply on Monday as hopes faded for a fresh round of fiscal aid and the number of new coronavirus cases surged, reflecting a rising risk of more lockdowns and a slower economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 650 points lower, after dropping by more than 950 points, or almost 3.5 percent. The S&P 500 closed down 1.86 percent and the Nasdaq Composite ended the day lower by 1.64 percent.
The total number of coronavirus cases has now reached 8.6 million, with over 225,000 deaths and a rising number of hospitalizations.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN on Sunday that the Trump administration will “defeat” the pandemic, “because we’re Americans.”
“What we have to do is make sure we fight it with therapeutics and vaccines, take proper mitigation factors in terms of social distancing and masks when we can,” Meadows said. “It is a contagious virus, just like the flu.”
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