The health crisis has increasingly become an economic one.
3 min read
The coronavirus pandemic has quickly evolved from a health crisis to a financial one, shuttering businesses, upending entire industries and sending financial markets reeling.
Here’s the latest news on how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting the economy. For more on financial resources available during the pandemic, click here.
Markets slip slightly
U.S. financial markets opened relatively flat Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down just over 100 points, or approximately 0.5% Tuesday morning. The S&P 500 was down by 0.6% and the Nasdaq dipped by 0.3%.
The slight drop comes after markets have swung widely for weeks amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The S&P 500 is on track for its worst quarter since the financial crisis of 2008.
The U.S. has become the new epicenter of the outbreak, with more than 164,000 diagnosed cases of the novel coronavirus. At least 3,170 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S.
On Monday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled that priorities for the next coronavirus economic stimulus package could include more protections for health care workers as well as an infrastructure element.
Pelosi added, however, that the next bill likely won’t get a vote until mid to late April.
“I would not suspect that we would have any bipartisan legislation before we return after Easter and Passover,” she said. “But we’re getting ready — and in some cases we are ready.”
