Wall Street plunged Monday morning after another spike in the number of coronavirus cases created fears for global economic growth. NBC News reported that Monday was the worst opening of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since last August, with a drop of 950 points. Stocks related to travel, such as casinos and flights, were among the hardest hit. Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “Markets are now slaves to the news flow.” While the spread of the virus appeared to be slowing down in China, fresh outbreaks in South Korea, Iran, and Italy have stoked fears that the global outbreak will still get worse. “The spike in infections in South Korea, mostly concentrated in the congregation of a single church, a surge in cases in Italy, and news of an outbreak in Iran, where the health-care system is of uncertain quality and the government is secretive, has triggered fears that China’s aggressive quarantining efforts won't keep the virus from spreading globally,” said Shepherdson.
