Market’s Covid Angst Returns After Weeks of Being Tamped Down
- The S&P 500 suffers worst decline to start a year since 2016
- Markets still have knee-jerk reaction to virus news: Fernandez
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On the first day of a new year, an old enemy resurfaced in markets -- virus angst -- which sent stocks careening to their worst opening session in five years amid concern about the budding economic recovery.
Coronavirus infections climbed above 85 million globally, fueling worries over potentially more stringent restrictions. Boris Johnson imposed a third lockdown across England. In the U.S., vaccine distribution has been slow to start even as hospitalizations reached a record of 125,544 nationwide.