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· Wall Street ends down on Powell's sober outlook, call to Congress for help

Wall Street’s three major indexes closed lower for the second day in a row after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned on Wednesday of extended economic weakness due to the coronavirus pandemic and called for Congress to agree on additional fiscal support.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 516.81 points, or 2.17%, to 23,247.97, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 50.12 points, or 1.75%, to 2,820 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 139.38 points, or 1.55%, to 8,863.17.

Investor bets on a swift recovery had helped the three main U.S. stock indexes climb about 30% from their March lows.

While the indexes closed above their session lows as they pared losses in the final minutes of the day, investors appeared to price in a deeper economic downturn than they had previously expected, fearing Powell’s call for additional stimulus would go unanswered.

While Powell pledged in a webcast to use the U.S. central bank’s power as needed, he suggested that it might not be enough to avoid deep economic damage without more fiscal support.

“He’s saying if you want to avoid a slow recovery and long-term economic damage you need a strong fiscal response, effectively placing that responsibility back over to governments instead of central banks,” said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Jersey City, New Jersey.

And divisions among Republicans and Democrats appear to have dimmed the prospects for additional fiscal support from Congress, according to Jeff Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab.

· Stock futures rise as Wall Street tries to curb the latest wave of selling

U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday night after concerns over the U.S. economy and the market’s overall valuation sparked another sell-off in equities earlier in the day.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 88 points higher, or 0.35%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also gained 0.3% each.

· European shares close 2% lower as coronavirus fears weigh on investor confidence

European stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday as concerns over a second wave of coronavirus infections, and the timing of a vaccine, weighs on investor sentiment.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 2% by the close, with travel and leisure stocks falling 4.8% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses finished in negative territory.

Asia stocks slip; Australia jobs data for April ahead

Stocks in Asia traded lower on Thursday morning following an overnight drop for stocks stateside.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.6% in early trade while the Topix index also shed 0.61%. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.9%.

Shares in Australia were also lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.7%.

Overall, the MSCI Asia-ex Japan index traded 0.37% lower.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters