Europe and the U.S. took dramatic steps to slow the coronavirus pandemic that’s killed over 6,000 people and sickened scores of others, as President Donald Trump on Monday warned the timeline for crisis mitigation may extend well beyond what was originally anticipated — which sent stock markets reeling.

“People are talking about July, August, something like that,” Trump said, adding that with the hefty losses in the stock markets, it is possible the country could go into a brief recession.

“The market will take care of itself" and will be "very strong" after the outbreak, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control urged the postponement or cancellation of large-scale events with 50 people or more for eight weeks in order to prevent more coronavirus infections, as new cases and fatalities mounted in Europe.

But on Monday, the White House coronavirus task force released its own guidelines, suggesting avoiding gatherings of 10 or more, and avoiding restaurants, bars, clubs and gyms. The guidelines did, however, defer to state and local governments— which have, in some cases, created stricter rules.

New York and California — which have the two largest clusters of COVID-19 cases in the United States — introduced sweeping efforts to combat the disease’s spread. Globally, cases are nearing 180,000, with more than 7,000 deaths.

Both the Empire and Golden State plan to shutter all schools and urged bars, restaurants and gyms to close voluntarily for at least two weeks, while San Francisco and the state of New Jersey imposed even stiffer requirements to keep people in.

Effective at midnight, San Francisco will require people to stay home except for essential needs.



Necessary government functions & essential stores will remain open.



These steps are based on the advice of public health experts to slow the spread of #COVID19. — London Breed (@LondonBreed) March 16, 2020

Since the World Health Organization formally declared the virus a pandemic last week, events have evolved at a rapid pace. A range of major businesses also opted to shutter temporarily, as fears mount that the outbreak will wreak havoc on the global economy.

The Federal Reserve made an emergency announcement Sunday afternoon by announcing that it would be cutting interest rates to zero. Vowing to use its “full range of tools” to battle the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the central bank also announced a new massive bond buying (quantitative easing) program of at least $700 billion.

View photos Confirmed cases are over 160,000, while the death count has risen to over 6,513. More

The Fed’s move, however, did virtually nothing to calm a market that’s been in turmoil for nearly a month. Stocks plunged at Monday’s opening bell by over 9%, triggering market circuit breakers and sparking a massive flight to safety in bonds and gold.

“When the U.S. equity market declines by 12% or 10% in a matter of four or five days, that’s a major league event, that’s telling you something,” Desmond Lachman, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former deputy director at the IMF’s policy development and review department, told Yahoo Finance.

“When you see the bond yield on the 10-year going below 1%, that’s telling you that markets are figuring out that this has a big impact,” he said in a recent interview, adding that investors were not impressed with the Trump administration’s readiness or pleas for calm.

“It’s a slow motion train wreck that will certainly, by the time of the election — at least I think— see a significant downturn in the United States,” Lachman added.

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