The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plunged amid the coronavirus outbreak.
March 13, 2020, 1:48 PM
4 min read
U.S. financial markets saw reprieve Friday after days of massive losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging around 1,110 points, or more than 5%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also up at around 5% each.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening of trading in New York, March 13, 2020.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening of trading in New York, March 13, 2020.Lucas Jackson/Reuters
The markets have plummeted this week amid the novel coronavirus outbreak and the World Health Organization declaring it a "pandemic." On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 2,350 points, almost 10%, and the day before it plunged 1,464 points, or 5.86%, as investor anxiety pushed the index into a bear market for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.
As markets reeled this week, the Federal Reserve announced a $1.5 trillion plan to help stabilize the financial system, but that appeared to have little effect on Thursday.
This July 15, 2013, file photo, shows a sign for Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange.
This July 15, 2013, file photo, shows a sign for Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange.Mark Lennihan/AP, FILE
"These changes are being made to address highly unusual disruptions in Treasury financing markets associated with the coronavirus outbreak," the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a Thursday statement.
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, told ABC News earlier in the week that "the coronavirus pandemic has taken the stock market into bear market territory, and further declines are in the offing as the U.S. effectively hits the 'pause' button on the economy in an effort to curtail spread of the virus."
"Yes, there will be economic disruption, and an all-but-certain recession," he said.
