By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow moved well off its lows Friday as the House of Representatives passed the $2 trillion coronavirus fiscal stimulus package, just as infections in the U.S. surged, overtaking that of Italy and China. President Donald Trump reportedly is expected to sign the bill into law at 4 PM ET (20:00 GMT).
The Dow fell 2.12%, or 477 points, the S&P 500 slipped 1.56% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.85%.
The successful passage of the bill, which lawmakers hope will stem the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, comes as U.S. infections topped 90,000, above China's 81,000 and Italy's nearly 87,000.
The bill includes measures to support the economy such as tax breaks, checks and bailouts for big businesses hurt by the outbreak.
Trump has downplayed the milestone in the U.S. and suggested the number of infections from Beijing was not entirely accurate.
"You don't know what the numbers are in China," Trump told reporters on Thursday, as he attributed the jump infection in the U.S to a "tremendous" ramp-up in testing.
Against the backdrop of rising infections worldwide, health authorities have been stepping up efforts to produce a vaccine.
The World Health Organization officials said Friday that the first patients had been enrolled in a drug trial in Norway and Spain to test coronavirus treatments.
The selloff on Wall Street was paced by a fall in energy and industrial stocks, which had led the previous three-day rally.
Energy stocks slumped 6.5%, paced by a decline in oil prices amid fears the pandemic will continue to hurt oil demand at a time when Saudi Arabia and Russia are engaged in a price war.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) fell 9.2%, pushing industrials 3.8% lower as the aircraft maker will reportedly not take up the lifeline on offer from the government’s stimulus bill if it comes with strings attached.