Futures fall again as recession fears rage on

[March 19, 2020]   By Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell for the third time this week on Thursday as sweeping emergency action from policymakers across the globe failed to convince panic-stricken equity markets that a coronavirus-driven global recession could be averted.

The meltdown in global markets, which has brought back memories of the 2008 financial crisis, has pushed Wall Street's three main indexes down about 30% from their record closing highs last month and erased the Dow Jones Industrials' <.DJI> gains since the President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration.

At 06:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMcv1> were down 411 points, or 2.06%, S&P 500 e-minis <EScv1> were down 47.25 points, or 1.97% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQcv1> were down 66.5 points, or 0.92%.

SPDR S&P 500 ETFs <SPY.P> were down 1.17%. The S&P 500 index <.SPX> closed down 5.18% at 2,398.1​ on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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