Wall Street opens sharply lower on fading stimulus hopes

• Lack of clarity on US' economic response package to coronavirus weighs on sentiment.
• Major S&P 500 sectors are all down more than 2% in early trade.
• CBOE Volatility Index rises more than 10% on Wednesday.

Wall Street's main indexes started the day deep in the negative territory on Wednesday as the Trump administration failed to deliver the economic stimulus package to negate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economic activity. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.1% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were erasing 3% and 2.7%.

Scepticism grows about stimulus package

Although the latest headlines suggest that the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed the coronavirus proposal and White House will be meeting an emergency meeting, investors don't seem to be convinced. In fact, the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, is up more than 10% to reflect the sour market mood.

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, which are all losing more than 2% in the early trade, the Energy Index and the Financials Index are both down 3.5% as worst-performers.