Wall Street's four-week slump deepened and the Dow Jones Industrials was set to surrender all its "Trump-bump" gains on Wednesday, as the coronavirus pandemic threatened to bring the U.S. economic activity to a grinding halt.
Automakers are halting production at plants across Europe as they grapple with coronavirus and diving demand.
Branch closures are the latest sign of the toll the coronavirus pandemic is having on the financial system.
The selloff in U.S. stocks deepened on Wednesday and the Dow was set to erase the last of its gains since U.S. President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration, as the coronavirus pandemic threatened to bring U.S. economic activity to a halt.
The Detroit Three automakers will shut down their U.S. plants to stop the spread of coronavirus, bowing to pressure from the union representing about 150,000 hourly workers at those facilities, industry officials said.
General Motors Co and Mercedes Benz will furlough all employees in Brazil later this month, the companies said on Wednesday, suggesting that production in South America's main auto center will be heavily impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Borrowing costs in the United States, euro zone, Britain and Japan surged on Wednesday after two days in which governments across the globe announced trillions of dollars of spending to support locked-down economies frozen by the coronavirus.
Tesla Inc cannot continue to operate its main U.S. vehicle plant normally as its San Francisco Bay Area home began a three-week lockdown on Tuesday to slow the spread of coronavirus, a county sheriff's office spokesman said.
Global stock futures and Asian shares tumbled in choppy trade on Wednesday, as worries about the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes broad policy support would combat the economic fallout from the outbreak.
Qantas Airways Ltd said on Thursday it will halt all international flights from late March until at least the end of May and is putting two-thirds of its workforce on leave after Australia told citizens not to travel overseas due to the coronavirus.
The dollar surged, bonds plunged and global markets struggled to find their footing on Thursday as the European Central Bank's latest promise of stimulus provided only brief solace while the world struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Tesla Inc is preparing to reduce staffing by about 75% at its lone U.S. assembly plant after initially resisting an order from the local sheriff, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a county spokesman.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc said the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will temporarily close the trading floors and move fully to electronic trading beginning Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The rush for the exits is breathtaking and feverish, brought on by a biological threat whose ultimate reach remains uncertain.
As Wall Street extended its deep sell-off on Wednesday over fears about the coronavirus, the Dow Jones Industrial Average effectively erased the last of the once sizeable gains it made under U.S. President Donald Trump.