Stocks down & fear up but losses are trimmed

Stocks sank around the globe again Friday as investors braced for more economic pain from the coronavirus outbreak, sending U.S. markets to their worst weekly finish since the 2008 financial crisis; however, Wall Street is still very much open for business.

An earlier report by Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino claimed that the world’s most famous financial market was making drastic plans in case the virus spreads fear of a wider pandemic and a global economic disaster.

While there was a trader update sent by the NYSE on Thursday, it was for a preplanned disaster recovery test scheduled for March 7, according to an NYSE spokesperson and not a reaction to the pending pandemic.

“The NYSE is carefully monitoring the spread of COVID-19 and has robust contingency plans, tested regularly, to enable continuous operation of the NYSE exchanges should any facilities be impacted.”

There was no immediate comment on the Fox report from the NYSE. The trading floor is closed over the weekend and is expected to reopen on Monday morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average nose-dived another 1,000 points at its low point Friday.

Stocks did roar back in the final hour of trading to close down 350 points and the tech-heavy NASDAQ even posted a tiny gain on the day.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell issued a rare Friday afternoon statement pledging that bankers would take appropriate measures to stop the bleeding. But the stock market shrugged off the message and kept right on plunging.

Investors are increasingly concerned that the stock market rout could have a psychological effect on consumers, making them reluctant to spend money and go to crowded places like stores, restaurants and movie theaters.