Stocks - Grim Data, Earnings Hit Wall Street Open: Dow Down 500 Points

Grim economic data and bank earnings sent U.S. stocks sharply lower at the opening Wednesday, undoing gains made on Tuesday in the hope that the U.S. is getting on top of the coronavirus epidemic. By 9:34 AM ET (1334 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 506 points, or 2.1%, at 23,443 points. The S&P 500 was down 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.8%. They had posted rises of between 2.4% and 4.0% on Tuesday, all hitting their highest levels in over a month. The market was brought down to earth by the biggest-ever monthly drop in retail sales in March, a set of data that didn't even include the full impact of the lockdowns that have been imposed across the country in stages. Retail sales fell by 8.7%, with autos and discretionary items hit particularly hard. Core sales, which exclude autos, fell by a slightly better-than-expected 4.5%.