US Stock Market Futures: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Plunge Over Coronavirus Forecast

After recording the ugliest first quarter in its entire history, the Dow Jones Industrial Average looks set to continue its plunge on April 1 to open another volatile quarter.

Stock futures fell late Tuesday, presaging losses when Wall Street opens to a new, and likely, more volatile month where deaths in the U.S. due to COVID-19 are expected to peak. As of 9:45 p.m. ET Tuesday, Dow futures fell more than 260 points, or 1.2%. S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100 futures were down around 1%. Earlier, the Dow closed 410 points lower, thereby ending the first quarter down 14%, its worst quarterly performance since 1987.

After markets closed Tuesday, president Donald Trump warned of a “very, very painful two weeks” ahead. The White House estimates anywhere from 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic by August.

“This could be a hell of a bad two weeks," said Trump at a White House press conference. "This is going to be a very bad two, and maybe three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we’ve never seen before."

On Tuesday, the Dow closed 410.32 points lower, or 1.8%, at 21,917.16. The S&P 500 shed 1.6% to 2,584.59 after gaining 152 points earlier in the day. The NASDAQ fell nearly 1% to 7,700.10.

Both the Dow and the benchmark S&P 500 recorded their worst first-quarter performances ever. The Dow also had its worst overall quarter since 1987 while the S&P 500 suffered its largest quarterly loss since 2008.

Losses for March were also historic. The Dow fell 13.7% while the S&P 500 lost 12.5%. Analysts said these were both indices' worst one-month declines since 2008. The S&P 500 and Dow also recorded moves of at least 1% in 21 of the 22 trading days this month.

The state of the COVID-battered U.S. economy offered little cheer to investors. Goldman Sachs said the economy will be wracked by an unprecedented plunge in the second quarter. U.S. consumer confidence posted a big decline with the Conference Board on Tuesday revealing its consumer confidence index plunged to 120 this month from 132.6 in February.