Outbreak sickens stocks

U.S. stocks recovered some on Tuesday after a steep decline the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 7.8 percent on Monday in its steepest drop since the financial crisis of 2008. President Donald Trump said he would ask Congress to pass payroll tax relief to help calm the economy. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees U.S. financial markets, asked employees to work remotely for the foreseeable future after an employee at the agency’s Washington headquarters came down with respiratory symptoms on Monday.

Will the swings continue? Uncertainty about how long the new coronavirus epidemic will last in the United States has the markets on a rollercoaster. The ups and downs could get milder as the outbreak runs its course. The United States had about 750 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, and at least 26 people had died. Overseas stocks also rebounded on Tuesday on the hopes that the U.S. government would intervene to soften the economic blow.

Dig deeper: Listen to the Monday Moneybeat on The World and Everything in It for more on how the coronavirus is affecting the economy.

WORLD has updated this report since its original posting.