By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Wall Street was lower Tuesday, as investors continued to monitor a jump in Covid-19 infections in New York state, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S.
The Dow fell 0.67%, or 149 points, but was up about 152 points at session at the highs of the day. The S&P 500 slipped 0.54% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.17%.
In New York state, coronavirus infections jumped 14% overnight to 75,795, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded that the virus is more dangerous than expected.
"I’m tired of being behind this virus. We’ve been behind this virus from day one," Cuomo said. "We underestimated this virus. It’s more powerful, it’s more dangerous than we expected."
The U.S. reported nearly 11,000 new cases since Monday, taking the total to about 174,000, with about 3,400 dead so far.
The pace of infections nationwide has led some on Wall Street to roll out even more dire forecasts about an impending recession.
Goldman Sachs now expects real U.S. gross domestic product to shrink 9% in the first quarter and 34% in the second three months of the year, compared with a previous forecast for falls of 6% and 24% respectively. The investment bank said, however, it expected gradual recovery in output to get underway in May or June.
Defensive corners of the market like real estate and utilities led the market lower as investors positioned their portfolio for the quarter-end.
Energy, however, proved an exception to the decline, rising 1.51%, though had been up more than 3% earlier, on growing hopes Saudi Arabia and Russia may call a truce on their price war in an effort to stabilize the market.
Growing investor hopes the U.S. is set to roll out further coronavirus stimulus to follow up its recent $2.2 trillion deal, the largest in U.S. history, kept a lid on losses.