Wall Street slumps on virus worries, grim economic forecast; Dow falls 2%

The S&P 500 was down 55.89 points, or 1.78%, at 3,075.40; the Nasdaq Composite was down 136.26 points, or 1.34%, at 9,995.11

Wall Street's three major indexes tumbled on Wednesday as investors weighed the risk to domestic economy from rising coronavirus cases and a worsening forecast of the damage from the pandemic.

Washington state made face masks mandatory in public places, while many other US states saw record cases, including Arizona and Texas, where restrictions meant to slow the spread of the disease were lifted early.

The top US infectious disease official Anthony Fauci has said the next two weeks could be critical in containing the outbreak.

The International Monetary Fund said the pandemic was causing wider and deeper damage to economic activity than first