Dow Jones deepens losses, drops 530 points at opening

The main US stocks indices fell sharply on Thursday, as concerns mounted over the coronavirus spread and its impact on the global economy.

This came despite President Trump's attempts to calm the market about the impact of the virus on the US economy.

Trump stressed that his administration has requested $2.5 billion in funding to counter the potential impact of the coronavirus, but tried to assure investors by saying that the matter is still under control.

The final reading of the US GDP for the fourth quarter of 2019, showed growth by 2.1%, in line with forecasts, and the durable goods reading fell by 0.2% in January, in addition to the jobless claims rising by 8K to 219K.

As for stocks, Dow Jones lost 2% or 530 points to trade 26,430 as of 15:00 GMT, Nasdaq fell 2.4% or 218 points to 8,762, and S&P 500 fell 2.1% or 65 points to 3,051.