Stocks fall on worse-than-expected economic data

Dismal data, banking blues and and crude's collapse all weigh on stocks. With CNBC's Brian Sullivan and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Karen Finerman, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami.

Stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as dismal economic data and weak bank earnings fueled concerns over the coronavirus’s impact on the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 445.41 points, or 1.9%, to 23,504.35. The S&P 500 slid 2.2% to 2,783.36 while the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.4% lower at 8,393.18. Both the Dow and S&P 500 had their worst session since April 1.

Bank of America closed more than 6% lower on the back of disappointing earnings. Citigroup fell more than 5%. Energy, materials and financials were the worst-performing sectors in the S&P 500, dropping more than 4% each.

Retail sales during the month of March plunged a record 8.7%, according to a report from the Commerce Department published Wednesday. That was the largest one-month decline since the department began tracking the series in 1992.

“If this is a precursor to what we can expect throughout the U.S. ... there’s no word for it,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The reflects the complete shutdown of the economy.”

“The question is how quickly can the economy come back,” said Krosby, noting the market did gallop higher in recent weeks and was due for some consolidation.

Grocery stores, pharmacies and other retailers of essential goods saw a surge in demand last month amid the outbreak, the government said. But sales at a variety of other businesses — such as gas stations, auto dealerships, and restaurants — swooned as state governments shuttered commerce in an effort to slow the virus.

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[TheEntrepreneurChannel]

New title! Stocks fall less than expected! ;)

[Radnally]

The only thing V shaped about this recession is going to be the word "vanquished"

[shanecrow]

Trying to push bad stocks by this framing. This was SUPPOSED to happen. Stop misinforming people.

[BCSelfImprovement]

Let it all collapse like it should have in 2008.

[riva]

Just wait for the tomorrow's jobless reveal. Bad data in coming.

[curtsheldon]

So many people are going to eat their words. LOL

[derisly]

I dont understand when they say that the slope is on the downside for the coronavirus when they just had their two worst days in a row for deaths. Am I missing something here with the data?

[paulquinn]

My prediction job losses in the millions But less than Expected. Dow rallies 1100 points 🥱🙄😅

[thebob]

there is going to be a huge financial payback for all this stimulus spending...it's the credit card plan...pay now or pay later...

[ChristoherWGray]

I thought wall street cheered when companies eliminated employees?
What happened?

[jonahansen]

"It didn't matter on those days so why should it matter today?" - what kind of reason is that? That's just a description, basically, that says technical analysis is all that matters.

[jloos]

pure data:
millions aborted this trend is getting worse.

[kamatmehbro]

Dan nathan is a legend, love listening to his views

[angusm]

Here's some "data" that definitely matters:
The Fed is willing to do anything...

[eriknephrongfr]

I don’t see how anyone makes sense of it. This hasn’t happened before, and the future is entirely uncertain. How do you make a smart bet?

[username]

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the economy. Except panic.

[SS-uzyb]

Hey, Germany cases are way lower than US. Like 2k daily cases. US is at 26k. You are more than 2 months away to get to that level

[shermanculbertson]

I wonder what happened to Melissa Lee. Haven’t seen her period in almost two months.

[trentpetersen]

WHAT Even with the FED BAILING OUT ALL OF THEIR RICH JUNK BOND BUDDIES

[snapperu]

The fed was having lunch instead of buying derivatives today