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7:05 p.m. After a Friday respite, the stock market was tumbling again before getting halted after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero to combat the impact of coronavirus.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have dropped 1041 points, or 4.6%, while S&P 500 futures have slumped 4.8%, and Nasdaq Composite futures have fallen 4.6%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 0.308 percentage point to 0.648%.

“Markets [are] trying to send DC a message that [a] Fed cut Is not enough,” writes NatAlliance Securities’ Andrew Brenner.

The Fed rate cut accompanied a presentation from President Donald Trump and his coronavirus task force, which laid out its plan to combat the health impact of the coronavirus. All this should have been good news, right? Except for the fact that it demonstrates that the crisis is bigger than many of us gave it credit for when it first began.

Consider: Fed Chair Powell was forced to cut the U.S. benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point—it had been moving in quarter- and half-point increments—and had to do it on a Sunday. The regularly scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday meeting was canceled. The Fed will start buying bonds again, at least $500 billion of Treasuries and $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities. The Fed also lowered the discount rate as a way to get banks to lend to cash-strapped businesses.

“So now we have the entire crisis playbook enacted before Asian markets open—with the Fed doing everything in its power, not just to support economic activity, but to keep the financial system afloat and keep credit flowing to affected households and businesses,” writes Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The market, however, appears worried that the Fed’s tools will not be enough. Companies are closing their doors—Wynn Resorts, for instance, said it would close its Las Vegas casinos for two weeks, while the CDC recommended against holding gatherings of 50 people or more—and many companies could find their cash flows going to zero. Without government help, they’ll be forced to fire employees and do everything they can just to stay solvent. Consumers will also have to save just to get through the next few months. That’s not something the Fed can easily cure. That’s one reason that Powell talked up fiscal policy as the only kind that can reach out to impacted industries and businesses.

“We think the proper policy response will require coordinated and forceful action from both the fiscal and monetary front,” writes Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer. “We will also need to see action from the Treasury to provide a financial backstop. However, we don’t think this will stop the weakening in the economy.”

Expect the market to remain volatile until government gets even more involved—and we have an idea just how weak the economy will get.

Write to Ben Levisohn at Ben.Levisohn@barrons.com