NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stock futures plunged late Sunday after the Federal Reserve cut rates to near zero and unleashed additional measures amid the virus crisis.
The U.S. central bank on Sunday cut its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point to near zero and will increase its bond holdings by at least 700 billion U.S. dollars amid mounting fears over the coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. stock-index futures tumbled to limit down levels with the Dow Jones Industrial average futures dropping more than 1,000 points after the Fed's move.
The Fed's latest action came less than two weeks after it slashed rates by a half percentage point in an emergency move that failed to reassure nervous investors, as the coronavirus outbreak has posed "evolving risks" to economic activity.
Vicious market swing has become a norm for U.S. equities these days as the number of COVID-19 cases increases rapidly across the country.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States had topped 3,000 by 2:30 p.m. local time Sunday (1830 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The fresh figure reached 3,244 with 62 deaths, the CSSE said.
For the week ending March 13, the Dow cratered 10.4 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq declined 8.8 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively.
