The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broadest equities gauge on the New York Stock Exchange, was down 1.8 percent at 23,914. The S&P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks, fell 2 percent to 2,855. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also fell 2 percent to 8,714.
On Thursday, Trump said his trade deal with China, the first phase having been signed only in January, was now of secondary importance to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump blames China for not informing the world on time for the spread of the virus, causing significant economic damage, human suffering and deaths.
The same day, Wall Street's main stock indexes fell about 1 percent but still managed to finish April with double-digit gains.
US stocks crashed in March, ending a multi-year rally, after the COVID-19 crisis began to strike the United States’ economy in full force. However, the stocks finished April with double-digit gains despite nearly 30 million Americans losing their jobs as a result of measures implemented to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
