Wall Street extends sell-off despite historic Fed boost; Dow Jones falls 3%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> dropped 3.12% to end at 18,576.04 points, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 2.96% to 2,236.7

Wall Street's slide deepened on Monday as the rapidly spreading coronavirus forced more US states into lockdown, overshadowing unprecedented moves by the US Federal Reserve to shore up credit across the economy.

After recently cutting interest rates to near zero, the Fed will now lend against student loans and credit card loans, as well as back the purchase of corporate bonds and make direct loans to companies.

Announcement of the extraordinary measures briefly lifted US stock index futures before Monday's trading session began, but the mounting death toll from COVID-19 and a tide of lockdowns more US states quickly sent the main