By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - Stock markets have been on the backfoot this week as fears about a second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to derail Wall Street’s V-shaped recovery.
Investor bets on a swift recovery had helped the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq climb about 30% from their March lows as parts of the U.S. economy began to reopen after weeks of lockdowns.
However, mounting concern of a second wave of COVID-19 cases have diminished those hopes.
Underscoring the severe impact of the pandemic, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said Wednesday the scope and speed of the economic downturn are "significantly worse" than any recession since World War II and warned the economic outlook was highly uncertain.
The sobering update from Powell comes as investors continue to assess efforts to reopen the economy against the risk that a rushed reopening could trigger a second wave of infections, sending the country back into a nationwide lockdown.
Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned this week that the U.S. could face more "suffering and death" if states start to reopen too quickly.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report