NEW
YORK (AP) — Stocks fell about 3% on Wall Street Monday as Congress hit
another roadblock in talks to inject nearly $2 trillion into the
economy. Even an extraordinary flood of support from the Federal Reserve
wasn’t enough to lift stocks, as frustration with Washington rises
along with the number of coronavirus cases.

Another attempt to
advance the aid bill on Capitol Hill failed in an afternoon vote. The
plan would send checks to U.S. households and offer support for small
businesses and the hard-hit travel industry, among other things, but
Democrats say it too heavily favors corporations at the expense of
public health and workers.

As Congress was locked in stalemate,
the number of known infections worldwide jumped past 350,000. After just
a few weeks, the United States has more than 35,000 cases and more than
400 deaths.

“The Fed is only important to the extent that it
keeps the markets running smoothly,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief
investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “It’s completely up
to the federal government, and I mean Congress and the executive
branch, at this point.”

With Monday’s losses, the stock market has
lost more than a third of its value since its record last month, as
more businesses shut down in hopes of slowing the spread of the
coronavirus. Economists increasingly say a recession seems inevitable,
analysts are slashing their forecasts for upcoming corporate profits and
no one can say for sure how deep the downturn will be or how long it
will last.

Markets are likely to remain incredibly volatile as
long as the number of new infections accelerates. Until then, investors
are looking for both central banks and governments to do their parts to
support the economy.

The Fed came through Monday, saying it would
buy as many Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities as it takes to get
lending markets working smoothly again. It goes way beyond the $700
billion in purchases announced last week, which economists called a
“bazooka” of support.

It also said it will buy a wide range of
investments, including corporate bonds for the first time, to improve
trading in markets that help home buyers purchase houses, state and
local governments borrow and businesses to get enough short-term cash to
make payroll.

“This is excellent, comprehensive, covering many
areas of the financial markets, their function, the flow of credit —
this is exactly what was needed,’’ said Donald Kohn, former Fed vice
chair and now senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “The Fed has
hit it out of the park as far as I’m concerned.”

“The key issue
now is getting the fiscal response straight,’’ said Kohn, saying that
Congress needs to finance a stabilization fund to back up the Fed’s
efforts.

On that point, Congress debated through the weekend on
the rescue plan, but top White House officials and congressional leaders
are struggling to finalize it. Democrats blocked a vote to advance the
package Monday, trying to steer more of the assistance to public health
and workers.

Still, optimism remains that they’ll get to a compromise.

“If
the alternative is crashing the plane, then you’ll do everything you
can to not crash the plane,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio
manager at Globalt. “Ultimately the government will get there.”

Even
if the two sides find a compromise, Congress may need to go through
more rounds of similar negotiations if the outbreak isn’t brought under
control.

“It’s battlefield dressing meant to keep the patient
alive, but more will be needed to be done before a complete healing is
accomplished,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist a CFRA.

“What
we need to do is arrest the spread of the coronavirus — flatten the
curve, if you will — and at the same time flatten consumers’ anxiety,
because we could simply end up seeing a rotation in frenzied buying from
toilet paper to other commodities, and conceivably bank accounts.”

The
S&P 500 lost 67.52 points, or 2.9% to 2,237.40 in another day of
sudden swings. It was down as much as 4.9% and as little as 0.2% earlier
in the day. Before trading opened, futures for the S&P 500 swung
from a loss of 5% to a gain following the Fed’s announcement, a
microcosm of the extreme volatility dominating the market in recent
weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 582.05 points, or 3%
to 18,591.93. The Nasdaq lost only 18.84 points, or 0.3%, to 6,860.67 as
technology stocks held up better than the rest of the market.

For
most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms,
such as fever and cough, and those with mild illness recover in about
two weeks. Severe illness including pneumonia can occur, especially in
the elderly and people with existing health problems, and recovery could
take six weeks in such cases.

Trading on the New York Stock
Exchange went all-electronic for the first time Monday after the
exchange temporarily closed its trading floor as a precaution. The
exchange announced the move last week after two employees tested
positive for the virus. The number of floor traders had dwindled sharply
in recent years as more trading become electronic.

Traders said the market is operating smoothly, or as well as it could given the conditions.

“Things
are sort of seamless, as far as speed and execution go,” said Peter
Tuchman. He’s usually on the NYSE floor trading for Quattro Securities
but now working from home.

“Surely, it runs smoother when we’re
there, but these are strange times calling for strange measures and to
protect the community we have to stay home.”

AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed.