#Stocks plunge again as COVID-19 surge continues across US

US stocks took another nosedive Wednesday amid a continued surge in coronavirus infections that has rattled investors and sparked fears of further damage to the struggling economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 943.24 points, or 3.4 percent, to 26,519.95 with both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the rise across the country. At Wednesday’s intraday low, the blue-chip index had shed more than 1,800 points over four consecutive sessions — leaving stocks on pace for their worst week since March.

The benchmark S&P 500 plummeted 3.5 percent on its third straight day of losses, falling below the 3,300 mark for the first time since Sept. 25. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq tanked 3.7 percent following a 0.6 percent gain on Tuesday.

“The stock market is telling us that COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon,” said James McDonald, CEO of Los Angeles-based Hercules Investments. “The record rally from the March lows and presumed recovery has likely come to an end.”

The US has posted a record average of 71,532 new coronavirus cases over the past seven days as the deadly pandemic climbed toward a third peak, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. The number of people currently hospitalized with the virus has also risen sharply over the past month to 44,212 as of Tuesday, the data show.

The spikes have raised fears that the US could follow parts of Europe in bringing back lockdown measures like those that crippled the economy in the spring — which would threaten the nation’s nascent recovery from the pandemic.

Illinois officials, for instance, will cut off indoor restaurant and bar service in Chicago on Friday amid a surge in infections. And France’s CAC 40 index tumbled about 3.4 percent amid reports of a possible nationwide lockdown there.

“This is reminiscent of the early period of the pandemic,” Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist for Prudential Financial, told The Post.

“What we’re seeing now is a concern, and it’s a mounting concern, that what we’re witnessing in Europe in terms of the lockdowns and restrictions will be something that we will be facing here in the US,” she said.

While lawmakers in Washington moved quickly to shore up the economy with stimulus spending in March, the possibility of Congress passing another relief package before Election Day has all but disappeared with the US Senate adjourned for legislative business until Nov. 9.

Any new headlines about purported negotiations are “just political theatrics so that both sides can say they tried and that the other side was recalcitrant,” Krosby said. “And this does not serve the average American.”

The drop in stocks came alongside a jump in the CBOE Volatility Index, known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election. It rose above 40 for the first time since June and was up about 17.7 percent at 39.25 as of 1:52 p.m.

“The country is under significant stress and the markets continue to reflect that reality,” said Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group. “Thankfully, November has the potential to settle some big, outstanding issues.”

With Post wires