Wall Street Selling Intensifies as U.S.-Mexico Agree Border Restrictions

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – Wall Street extended its selloff on Friday, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to ban all non-essential travel across their border as concerns about the coronavirus spread continue to mount.

The Dow fell 1.20%, the
S&P 500 fell 1.59% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.85%.

"As we did with Canada, we're also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend non-essential travel," Trump said, according to media reports. The ban, however, would not hinder trade and commerce, the president added.

The move comes as efforts nationwide to contain the virus continue, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordering all workers in non-essential businesses across the state to stay at home.

The move will "cause disruptions" and force businesses to close, Cuomo conceded, adding that businesses who fail to comply with the new measure would face penalties.

The number of infections has topped seven in New York, with as many as 35 deaths reported in the state so far. In the U.S., the number of cases now stood at

With the virus increasingly sparking disruptions to daily lives and businesses across the country, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the IRS would delay the national income tax filing day by three months to July 15.

The turn lower on Wall Street was paced by declines in communications services and consumer staples, which usually serves as a defensive corner of the market but a slump in Kroger (NYSE:KR), Clorox (NYSE:CLX) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) weighed.

But energy is weathering the storm despite a decline in oil prices, with Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) and EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) leading the broader move higher.

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