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4 p.m.: Another day, another wild swing in global markets. Stocks finished well off their lows of the session, but nonetheless sitting on hefty losses. News that the Senate was about to pass a coronavirus relief bill helped boost the market in the last half hour of trading. Already passed by the House, the law provides paid sick leave and expands unemployment benefits for workers impacted by the outbreak. It also provides funding for free coronavirus testing.

The dash for cash continued through the day, as risky and haven assets sold off in unison. The U.S. dollar gained and oil plunged.

Stock indexes fell to their lowest levels of the day in the afternoon as President Donald Trump spoke alongside members of the White House’s coronavirus task force, detailing government efforts to fight the outbreak, but without offering an update on a potential trillion-dollar fiscal stimulus bill under discussion in Washington.

The S&P 500 fell to a 7% loss on the day shortly before 1 p.m., triggering an automatic 15-minute trading halt for the fourth time since last Monday. The selloff continued after trading resumed—before the late-afternoon recovery boosted the S&P 500 to down 5.2% at the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1,335 points, or 6.3%, to close below 20,000 points for the first time since January 2017. The Nasdaq Composite lost 4.7%. Each index had been off 9% or more earlier in the day.

The president said on Wednesday that he would invoking the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law, to increase production of masks and other protective equipment for medical personnel. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is activated in all regions of the U.S., and two hospital ships—Mercy and Comfort—are being prepared to deploy.

Trump also said that the department of Housing and Urban Development would suspend all foreclosures and evictions through April and the department of Health and Human Services would allow all doctors and medical professionals to practice across state lines.

Earlier in the day, President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that all non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada would be halted, but trade and the flow of goods would continue. It follows similar bans on travel from most European countries.

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus across the globe is threatening people’s health and lives, and leading to economically disruptive measures to combat it. Central banks are responding by slashing interest rates and reviving financial crisis-era bond-buying programs. Governments around the world are also planning huge new fiscal stimulus packages meant to put money in consumers’ pockets and provide aid to beleaguered industries. And people are working from home, canceling travel, and avoiding gatherings.

U.S. Treasury bonds fell as investors considered the significant new borrowing that a big stimulus bill will require. That made their yields rise: The 10-year Treasury note yield ticked up 27 basis points, or hundredths of a percentage point, to 1.266%—its highest level in three weeks. European sovereign bonds likewise sold off on Wednesday.

The price of gold—another traditional haven asset—fell 2.1%. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the price of the currency against a basket of other currencies, rose 1.3%.

The price of oil tumbled 17.5%, to $22.24 a barrel. Fading demand and a price war between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have hit the commodity hard: Its price is down almost two-thirds since early January, when a barrel of oil traded for $66.30 in the U.S. Wednesday’s close was the lowest since early 2002.

That hit already beleaguered energy stocks, which fell about 14% on Wednesday. The best-performing sector in the S&P 500 was consumer staples, off less than 3%. Utilities, which soared over 13% on Tuesday, closed down over 4%.

The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, ended about flat, at 76. The Vix has held at extremely high levels for several days, for the longest period since the tumultuous trading during the peak of the financial crisis in 2008. The VIX measures expectations of future volatility based on S&P 500 options pricing. The S&P 500 has had seven straight daily moves of at least 4%, and was on pace for its eighth on Wednesday.

Stocks across the globe also fell. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 3.9%, while markets in Asia closed down on the day. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.7%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 4.2%.

Economic activity will remain severely limited as long as the social-distancing measures meant to slow the spread of the virus remain in place—no matter the fiscal or monetary stimulus measures enacted now. Many factories and manufacturing facilities are forced to close, and consumers are avoiding stores, restaurants, and travel.

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The quantifiable consequences of slamming the brakes on the global economy are still largely theoretical. The hard stop will only begin to appear in March economic-data releases and companies’ first-quarter results, which won’t be available for several more weeks.

That is making it exceedingly difficult for investors to price stocks and other assets, and is likely exacerbating the day-to-day volatility in the market. Some may simply be pricing in their worst-case scenarios.

“When the current data is totally ignored because it’s irrelevant, it removes any fundamental guidepost and leaves investors to price a market based only on their worst nightmares,” says Jim Paulsen, Leuthold Group’s chief investment strategist. “I welcome the fact that this morning we started to get the bad news that everyone fears because at least we’ll begin to get reconnected to some sense of reality.”

In the meantime, cash may simply feel like the only safe place to be.

Write to Nicholas Jasinski at nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com