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Stocks tumbled Tuesday amid continuous fears over the spreading coronavirus outside of China, with a rate cut offering little to no support.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 785.91 points, or 2.94%, to close at 25,917.41. The S&P 500 lost 86.86 points, or 2.81%, to end at 3003.37, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 268.08 points, or 2.99%, to close at 8684.09.

Responding to Covid-19’s perceived economic impact, the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by half point to a range between 1.00% and 1.25% on Tuesday morning. At the following press conference, Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed is in active contact with other central banks and there might be more formal coordination moving forward.

This is the first rate cut outside a scheduled meeting since October 2008, and the vote was unanimous. After a brief respite, all three major stock indexes closed in the red as investors doubt that the central bank can really curb the coronavirus’ damage by loosening monetary policy. Some on Wall Street think the cut indicated that the Fed sees a credible danger of a possible credit crisis for small and midsized businesses–and consequently, a recession.

Following the rate cut, gold futures jumped more than 3% and U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply to record lows as investors moved out of stocks and into haven assets. The two-year Treasury yields dropped 10.1 basis points to settle at 0.723%, 10-year yields slipped 8 basis points to 1.005%, and 30-year bond yields slid 2.2 basis points to 1.622%. The 10-year yields even briefly dropped below 1% for the first time ever.

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Companies continued to cut guidance, citing coronavirus impact. Following rival Mastercard (MA), credit-card giant Visa (V) cut its forecast for net revenue growth in the March-ended quarter by 2.5 to 3.5 percentage points from the initial projection, citing a sharp slowdown in its cross-border business, in particular, travel-related spending. The company said it does not believe this deteriorating trend has bottomed out yet. Chip makers Microchip Technology (MCHP) and Qorvo (QRVO) also joined other tech companies to cut revenue guidance.

Investors are also nervously watching the results from Democratic primary ballots in 14 states and one U.S. territory. Super Tuesday has typically been a strong indicator of the likely eventual nominee for the presidential election in November. More than one third of pledged delegates are up for grabs, as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, the leading candidates in the race, and others try to nab votes.

Write to Evie Liu at evie.liu@barrons.com