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* Banks extend slide as Fed sees rates near zero until 2022
* Travel-related stocks plummet
* Boeing down 16.4%, weighing heaviest on the Dow
* Indexes fall: Dow 6.90%, S&P 5.89%, Nasdaq 5.27%
(Updates with closing prices)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street plummeted on
Thursday as investors reacted to renewed fears of a pandemic
resurgence and digested dour economic forecasts from the U.S.
Federal Reserve.
All three major U.S. stock indexes lost well over 5%,
posting their worst one-day percentage drops since March 16,
when markets were sent into freefall by the abrupt economic
lockdowns put in place to contain the pandemic. The Nasdaq
snapped a three-day streak of record closing highs.
The sell-off was broad, with all 11 major sectors of the S&P
500 falling from nearly 4% to well over 9%.
"There's really no buy point," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. "It's pretty
much selling all the way through."
Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness
Counsel in New York, agreed.
"Everything's for sale," Ghriskey added. "There's fear we're
near a top."
Deaths of Americans from COVID-19 could reach 200,000 in
September, a grim result of the United States' economic
re-opening before getting growth of new cases down to a
controllable level, according to a leading health expert.
At the conclusion of its two-day monetary policy meeting on
Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve released its first
pandemic-era economic outlook, after which Chair Jerome Powell
warned of a "long road" to recovery. "The Fed keeping rates steady through 2022 could give
investors the impression that the Fed may be more concerned
about the pace of economic recovery than originally
anticipated," said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at
NovaPoint in Atlanta.
Economic data appeared to back up the Fed's gloomy economic
projections, with jobless claims still more than double their
peak during the Great Recession and continuing claims at an
astoundingly high 20.9 million. A year-on-year drop in core producer prices also reflected
the central bank's disinflationary concerns.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX , a barometer of investor
anxiety, posted its largest one-day point gain since March 16.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1,861.82
points, or 6.9%, to 25,128.17, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 188.04
points, or 5.89%, to 3,002.1 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
dropped 527.62 points, or 5.27%, to 9,492.73.
Among the major S&P 500 sectors, energy .SPNY and
financials .SPSY suffered the largest percentage drops,
plunging by 9.5% and 8.2%, respectively.
Interest rate-sensitive banks .SPXBK slipped 9.6%, after
the Fed indicated key interest rates would remain near zero
through at least 2022.
Travel-related companies, among the hardest hit by mandated
lockdowns, were sharply lower.
The S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR tumbled 13.8%, while
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N and Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd RCL.N dropped 16.5% and 14.3%, respectively.
Boeing Co BA.N was the heaviest weight on the Dow,
shedding 16.4% after its top supplier Spirit AeroSystems
Holdings Inc SPR.N announced a 21-day layoff for staff doing
production and support work for Boeing's 737 program.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
17.60-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 12.98-to-1 ratio favored
decliners.
The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 19 new highs and nine new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.31 billion shares, compared
with the 12.83 billion average over the last 20 trading days.