Dow Plunges at the Open, Then Keeps Sinking

"What goes up must come down" seems to be the rule of thumb as of late. Though the Dow finished up 1,167 points on Tuesday, Dow futures were down 811 points a half-hour before the opening bell, and stocks did indeed plunge at the open, with the Dow down 3%, or about 750 points. By 10:50am ET, it had edged to a 4% drop, trading down more than 1,000 points at one point. Elsewhere, European stock markets edged up after Asian shares mostly declined, as governments were ramping up aid for economies reeling from the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The AP reports Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 2.3% to finish at 19,416.06. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 plunged 3.6% to 5,725.90. South Korea's Kospi shed 2.8% to 1,908.27. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6% to 25,231.61, while the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.9% to 2,968.52. France's CAC 40 gained 0.8% to 4,673, while Germany's DAX rose 0.6% to 10,537. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.4% to 5,984. The Bank of England cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 0.25% and offered financial liquidity measures in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. The central bank said the move would "help support businesses and consumer confidence at a difficult time."

(More Dow Jones stories.)