Stocks close down after tumultuous session

The stock market closed down Monday after a tumultuous session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall as much as 2.5 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 328.6 points, closing 1.4 percent down Monday, after earlier losing as much as 600 points, or 2.5 percent.

The S&P 500 lost 28.2 points, or 1 percent, while the Nasdaq composite closed in positive territory, up 38.9 points, or 0.5 percent.

The tumult comes amid an avalanche of news, some offering economic hope, some indicating a long road to recovery.

Over the weekend, Americans started receiving $1,200 economic stimulus checks approved by Congress in its coronavirus stimulus bill. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Monday that the worst of the pandemic was likely over in his state, though he warned that the number could race back up if restrictions in place are eased too quickly.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) similarly warned that the economy would only reopen gradually.

“I think sometimes we all think we’re going to turn a switch and be back to normal, and that’s just not going to happen,” DeWine said, echoing rhetoric from the nation’s top pandemic expert Anthony Fauci.

Goldman Sachs projected that the market had already seen its low point in March and was unlikely to fall below those levels.

“If the US does not experience a second surge in infections after the economy reopens, the ‘do whatever it takes’ stance of policymakers means the equity market is unlikely to make new lows,” a Monday analysis said, even as it expressed surprise at the relatively small drop in equities in the face of “the largest shock to the global economy in 90 years.”

The market, the analysis noted, was trading at the same levels it was in June, less than a year ago.