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| - US stocks fell further Tuesday afternoon, reflecting skepticism at a surprise Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and the 10-year US Treasury hit an all-time low. Despite the emergency move meant to boost confidence, investors fled into secure assets, causing US stock indices to sink more than three percent, and the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond to plunge below one percent for the first time. The developments suggested widening investor fear that the coronavirus will damage the global economy, potentially plunging the US into its first recession since the 2008 global financial crisis. Around1945 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.3 percent to 25,851.42, a loss of more than 850 points. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 3.0 percent to 2,999.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 3.2 percent to 8,662.78. The surprise Fed move slashed its key interest rate by a half point to a range of 1.0-1.25, a bigger cut than usual. While US economic fundamentals "remain strong," the "coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. Stocks initially rallied on the Fed announcement, but soon pulled back. "The Fed's emergency rate cut was supposed to boost confidence but it may wind up raising fears that the coronavirus is likely to cause a major economic downturn," economist Joel Naroff said. Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said the Fed's action "does send a message that things are going to potentially get much worse." As for the Treasury market, yields on the 10-year have repeatedly hit all-time lows in recent days, but did not tumble below one percent until the Fed's emergency move, which came 15 days before its regularly scheduled meeting. Treasury bonds are among the refuge-type assets that tend to attract buyers during periods of uncertainty. JPMorgan Chase put odds at 50 percent that US interest rates would hit zero in 2020, but said the "base case" called for 10-year rates to hit 1.3 percent at midyear and 1.6 percent by year-end. jmb/hs
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