US stock futures down, pointing to another wild week on Wall Street

NEW YORK, USA – MARCH 22: New York Stock Exchange building is seen at the Financial District in New York, United States on March 22, 2020. The “New York State on PAUSE” that executive order is in effect at 8 p.m. Sunday night, March 22nd. All citizens are required to stay home except to buy their needs as medical or necessary supplies. New York has reached to 17,000 Covid19 cases as of today. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

by: CNN Wire

Posted: Mar 29, 2020 / 06:24 PM CDT

Updated: Mar 29, 2020 / 06:24 PM CDT

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(CNN) — US stock futures were lower Sunday night, continuing to give up gains from last week’s historic rally that came to a halt on Friday.

Dow futures were down 371 points, or about 1.7%. S&P 500 futures fell around 1.8% and Nasdaq futures were down around 1.5%.

Stocks turned positive last week — and the Dow even left the bear market after climbing more than 20% from its recent low — as lawmakers and central bankers around the world made progress on measures to bolster economies weakened by coronavirus. On Friday, the US House of Representatives passed and President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion stimulus package aimed at helping American workers, businesses and industries grappling with the outbreak.

But the virus continues to spread, threatening, among other things, jobs, corporate earnings and travel. Initial US jobless claims soared to 3.28 million, the highest on record, in the week ended March 21.

The United States now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world, with more than 136,000 cases confirmed as of Sunday. The Centers for Disease Control issued a travel advisory urging people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to “refrain from non-essential domestic travel” for the next two weeks.

Trump announced Sunday that the United States will extend its set of social distancing guidelines until April 30. He said he hopes the country will be on its way to recovery by June 1.