New York/Hong Kong/London (CNN Business) - US
stock futures plummeted after President Donald Trump announced that travel from more than two dozen European countries to United States will be suspended for 30 days, an escalation of measures taken to insulate Americans from the
novel coronavirus outbreak.
Dow (
INDU) futures have plunged more than 1,000 points, or 4.3%. S&P 500 (
SPX) futures are down 4.1% and Nasdaq (
COMP) futures have dropped 4.2%.
Europe's stock markets fell dramatically at the open. London's FTSE 100 (
UKX) dropped 5%, Germany's DAX (
DAX) declined 5.4% and France's CAC 40 shed 4.5%. Italy's benchmark stock index, which has dropped 18% this week, fell another 5.9%.
Investors see no endgame in sight and "traders are hammering the sell button now thinking the US government has fallen well behind the curve in its (coronavirus) response," wrote Stephen Innes, a market strategist at AxiCorp, in a note Thursday.
Trump's announcement — made during an address to the nation Wednesday night — initially sowed some confusion. He described the suspension as affecting "Europe," rather than the specific collection of countries that US authorities later clarified.
During the speech he also said that the "prohibitions would not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval," but later corrected himself on Twitter to say that "trade will in no way be affected" by the travel restriction.
"The restriction stops people not goods," he said.
And US citizens and permanent residents who are in Europe will still be allowed back into the United States during the 30-day period, though will be screened upon entry and face quarantine or restrictions on their movement.
Even so, it remains unclear whether airlines will still fly the routes if passenger demand from European nationals dries up because of the ban.
"Travel restrictions equal slower global economic activity, so if you need any more coaxing to sell sell sell sell after a massively negative signal from overnight trading in US markets it just fell in your lap," Innes wrote.
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