US stocks fall hard on new global COVID-19 restrictions

4:05pm: US equites tank US stocks fell hard with the DJIA closing down more than 300 points led by shares of companies with the most to lose if there are problems in the reopening of the global economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Both travel and retail stocks sold off amid fresh restrictions around the world. On the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 308 points, or 0.94%, to 32,423. The S&P 500 dropped 0.76% to 3,910 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined by 1.12% to 13,227. 1:30pm: GameStop down ahead of earnings report The Dow was down 24 points to 32,706 in the early afternoon. The Nasdaq slid 28 points, 0.2%, to 13,350, while the S&P picked up 1 point to 3,942. "The S&P 500 is essentially flat on the session as traders are sitting on their hands," CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden wrote. "Jerome Powell, the head of Fed, is just about to testify before the House Financial Services Committee in relation to the CARES act. Other US central bankers, Lael Brainard and John Williams are due to speak this evening. Mr Powell is likely to praise the fiscal response from the government but point out that the jobless rate still needs to fall further." GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) is once again in focus as the company prepares to report its quarterly figures after the bell. In anticipation, shares are down more than 3% to $188.63. 11:20am: Proactive North America headlines: VolitionRx Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:VNRX) CEO says company in ‘strongest-ever financial position’ to pursue ‘many milestones’ PsyBio Therapeutics Corp (CVE:PSYB) starts process development of its biosynthetic formulation of norbaeocystin, an analogue of psilocybin Snowline Gold Corp (CSE:SGD) (OTCMKTS:SNWGF) reveals details of its Tosh Gold Project in the Yukon BMEX Gold Inc (CVE:BMEX) (OTCMKTS:MRIRF) (FRA:8M0) names new interim CEO as it reports latest drill results from King Tut gold project CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK) implements more than $1.7M in new contracts following its acquisition of Solar Watt Solutions HempFusion Wellness Inc (TSE:CBD.U) (OTCQX:CBDHF) says initial results from Validcare CBD study shows no evidence of liver toxicity Global Energy Metals Corporation (CVE:GEMC) (OTCMKTS:GBLEF) (FRA:5GE2) expects drilling to begin in May at Lovelock mine battery metals project in Nevada; to submit permit amendment application Predictiv AI Inc (CVE:PAI) (OTC:INOTF) (FRA:71TA) subsidiary Weather Telematics forms partnership to push its road safety alert system toward commercialization Newrange Gold  Corp (CVE:NRG) (OTCMKTS:NRGOF) (FRA:X6C) completes IP survey at flagship Pamlico project in Nevada and enlarges property American Battery Metals Corporation (OTCQB:ABM) establishes new development center in Nevada Maverix Metals Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:MMX) (TSE:MMX) (FRA:7781) posts 4Q and FY2021 results showing record revenue and strong profits from its royalty assets ME2C Environmental Emissions Corp (ME2C Environmental) (OTCQB:MEEC) announces new technologies under development to improve REEs processing in North America KWESST Micro Systems Inc (CVE:KWE) (OTCQB:KWEMF) notes filing of provisional patent for non-lethal munitions technology system BTU Metals Corp (CVE:BTU) (OTCMKTS:BTUMF) further expands ground next to Great Bear Resources in Red Lake gold camp Victory Resources Corporation (CSE:VR) (OTCMKTS:VRCFF) (FRA:VR62) completes initial sampling on its Smokey Lithium property in Nevada Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp (CSE:CANN) (OTCQX:HERTF) expands US supply and distribution agreement with Geocann for products utilizing VESIsorb technology Mawson Gold Limited (TSE:MAW) (OTCPINK:MWSNF) (FRA:MXR) reveals results from deepest and best drill hole to date at Sunday Creek project in Australia Todos Medical Ltd (OTCQB:TOMDF) enters into an automation and reagent supply agreement with MAJL Diagnostics LeanLife Health Inc (CSE:LLP) (FRA:LL1) (OTCPINK:LNLHF) says cans of Mike Tyson-branded Iron Energy to arrive in Los Angeles next week Versus Systems Inc (NASDAQ:VS) (FRA:BMVB) to add new functionality to its Dynamic Regulatory Compliance prizing engine to support uses in Mexico 9:40am: Wall Street on back foot The main indices on Wall Street began Tuesday’s session on the back foot ahead of Congressional testimony from both Fed chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.17% at 32,675 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.14% to 3,934 and the Nasdaq fell 0.07% to 13,368. Meanwhile, shares in Reddit darling GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) made a strong start to the session as investors awaited its earnings, with the stock rising 2.8% to US$198.85 in early deals. Computing giant Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) was also in the green, up 1.2% at US$238.68 amid chatter it could swoop in with a billion dollar bid for video gamer chat platform Discord. 8:00am: Wall Street to turn mostly lower It is looking like a “risk-off” day for US markets today although the tech rally still has some legs. Spread betting quotes point to the Dow Jones industrial average tumbling 107 points to 32,264 and the S&P 500 falling 12 points to 3,929 but the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is expected to eke out an 8 point gain to 13,095. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are set to face law-makers in Congress today “It will be interesting to see whether Yellen will push for more spending given the sky-high government debt. Powell will probably reiterate the same message he did ad the FOMC presser last week, namely that although the economy is progressing well, it is still far from complete and so the Fed will continue to provide monetary support,” suggested Fawad Razaqzada at ThinkMarkets. When trading starts, attention may be focused on Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), which reportedly is in talks to buy Discord, the chat platform favoured by gamers, for a mind-boggling US$10bn+. Talking of gamers, GameStop is set to declare its earnings after the close of trading today, which will either get the stock’s many fans on Reddit excited or they could go on ignoring the earnings (or lack of same) of the retail dinosaur. Three things to watch for on Tuesday: Today’s earnings diary will feature numbers from software group Adobe Inc (NASDAQ:ADBE), information firm IHS Markit Ltd (NYSE:INFO) and food test kit maker Neogen Corp (NASDAQ:NEOG) Meanwhile, focus may also be on Bitcoin after the cryptocurrency suffered its biggest drop in a month amid a slowdown of inflows into the digital token On the macro front, investors may be interested in the latest Richmond Fed manufacturing index for March as well as a number of speeches from various Fed representatives