Surprise Fed rate cut fails to end stock gloom

U.S. stocks tumbled nearly 3 percent on Tuesday after a surprise half percentage-point rate cut sparked fear the global economy may be headed for tougher times because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Conway G.

Gittens has the details.

Stocks tumbled Tuesday after a surprise emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve - meant to support the market - failed to stop the selling.

The Fed cut rates - between meetings - by 50 basis points - the deepest cut since the financial crisis… underscoring the Fed's worry that the spreading coronavirus could undermine economic growth.

Fed chief Jerome Powell: SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL, SAYING: "We do recognize that a rate will not reduce the rate of infection, it won't fix a broken supply chain, We get that.

We don't think we have all the answers, but we do believe that our action will provide a meaningful boost to the economy." Judging from the sell-off, Wall Street wasn't so sure.

Investors continued to run to the perceived safety of U.S. government debt; that pushed the yield on the benchmark 10-year note temporarily below 1 percent for the first time ever.

As for stocks..

The selling resumed after a one-day rally on Monday..

The Dow fell 785 points.

The S&P 500 shed 86 points.

The Nasdaq lost 268 points.

And Nick Colas, co-founder at DataTrek Research, thinks this market isn't done falling.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): NICK COLAS, CO-FOUNDER, DATATREK RESEARCH, SAYING: "An investing bottom more likely comes with some kind of bigger move in equities, something like a five percent move.

That's only happened 33 times in one day back to 1958.

Those are better signs of a bottom.

Now during the financial crisis we had quite a few of those and the bottom wasn't for a few months, but it was signaling that there was so much stress in the market that it was time to buy." Financials were the hardest hit group.

Record-low rates will make it difficult for this industry..

American Express was the worst performing Dow stock - down 5 percent.

Other financial blue chips such as JPMorgan Chase and Visa weren't far behind.

Airlines stocks were also losers.

International travel to the U.S. during the spring holiday season will likely suffer the biggest decline since the financial crisis, according to a prediction by the U.S. Travel Association.

Further strain will likely come from a drop in business travel.

Citing growing concerns about the fast-spreading coronavirus, The International Monetary Fund and World Bank announced their April meeting in Washington, D.C.

Will now be a "virtual gathering." The high-powered event usually draws a global crowd of some 10,000 attendees.