US STOCKS-Dow sinks, virus pushes it to sharpest quarterly plunge in over three decades

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* Energy stocks gain on higher oil prices
* Economists slash 2020 expectations
* Investors show caution before jobs data later this week
* Indexes down: Dow 1.8%, S&P 500 1.6%, Nasdaq 0.95%

(Updates to close)
By Sinéad Carew
March 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's three major indexes
tumbled on Tuesday, with the Dow registering its biggest
quarterly decline since 1987 and the S&P 500 suffering its
deepest quarterly drop since the financial crisis on growing
evidence of massive economic damage from the coronavirus
pandemic.
In one of the fastest turns into a bear market, the S&P 500
and the Dow both ended the first quarter more than 20% below the
end of 2019, as the health crisis worsened in the United States
and brought business activity to a standstill.
It was also the S&P's biggest first-quarter decline on
record as consumers were advised to stay at home, leading
businesses to announce temporary closures and massive staff
furloughs.
As a result, economists have slashed 2020 growth
expectations and investors, eying dismal quarterly financial
reports, fear corporate defaults and mass layoffs would lead to
a deep recession. An unprecedented round of fiscal and monetary stimulus had
helped equity markets edge higher last week following wild
swings that saw the benchmark S&P 500 rise 9% and slump 12% in
two consecutive sessions.
But this was not enough to give investors confidence.
"After the battering we've taken in the last month, people
aren't willing to make big bets in any direction right now,
especially since we'll have more insight from commentary in
early earnings reports starting next week," said Carol Schleif,
deputy chief investment officer at Abbot Downing in
Minneapolis.
Many investors were also likely being cautious ahead of the
release of jobless claims data on Thursday and the March
non-farm payroll report on Friday, said Steven DeSanctis, a
strategist at Jefferies.
"We're leading into the end of the week that's going to have
more of the fireworks," he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 410.32 points,
or 1.84%, to 21,917.16, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 42.06 points, or
1.60%, to 2,584.59 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
74.05 points, or 0.95%, to 7,700.10.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq registered its biggest quarterly
decline since the end of 2018.
The utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR sectors
were among the biggest decliners on Tuesday, with 4% and 3%
declines respectfully following a recent rally, when investors
sought ways to weather the economic slump.
The energy index .SPNY rose nearly 1.6%, boosted by a
rebound in prices on the day although crude oil benchmarks ended
a volatile quarter with their biggest losses in history, as both
U.S. and Brent futures were hammered throughout March by the
coronavirus pandemic and the eruption of a price war between
Russia and Saudi Arabia. O/R
After bouncing between gains and losses, the technology
sector .SPLRCT ended the day down 1.9%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.25-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.04-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 14 new highs and 37 new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 13.13 billion shares changed hands
compared with the 15.75 billion average for the last 20
sessions.