S&P 500, Dow sink to September lows on spiraling pandemic, election worry

The S&P 500 and the Dow slumped on Wednesday to their lowest levels since late September, as coronavirus cases climbed globally and investors also worried about the possiblity of a contested US presidential election next week.

A spiraling pandemic and the failure to approve new fiscal stimulus before the Nov. 3 election put the blue-chip Dow on track to close at its lowest since early August. All three major indexes fell about 3 per cent.

Twelve US states set records for hospitalised Covid-19 patients on Tuesday, while Germany announced plans to shut large swathes of public life for a month