US STOCKS-S&P 500 heads for biggest ever first-quarter plunge

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* Energy stocks gain on higher oil prices
* Economists slash 2020 expectations
* Markets relatively calm before jobs data later this week
* Indexes down: Dow 1.4%, S&P 500 1.5%, Nasdaq 1%

(Updates to late afternoon)
By Sinéad Carew
March 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes fell on
Tuesday and the S&P 500 was headed for a record first-quarter
decline on growing evidence of large-scale economic damage from
the coronavirus pandemic.
In one of the fastest turns into a bear market, the S&P 500
indexes and the Dow Jones Industrial average were set to end the
quarter more than 20% below their levels at the start of the
year, as the health crisis worsened in the United States and
brought business activity to a standstill.
The real estate .SPLRCR and utilities .SPLRCU sectors
were among the biggest decliners on Tuesday, following a recent
rally driven by investors seeking stocks likely to weather an
economic slump.
An unprecedented round of fiscal and monetary stimulus had
helped equity markets stabilize recently following wild swings
that saw the benchmark S&P 500 rise 9% and slump 12% in two
consecutive sessions.
With economists slashing 2020 growth expectations, investors
fear corporate defaults and more mass layoffs would lead to a
deep and lasting global recession. "Hopefully today, outside of any stirring event that's going
to take place, we have a little bit more of a stable performance
where the high and the low's not going to be more than 2%," said
Steven DeSanctis, a strategist at Jefferies.
But the relative calm may not last as many investors were
likely being cautious ahead of the release of data on jobless
claims on Thursday and the release of the March non-farm payroll
report on Friday.
"We're leading into the end of the week that's going to have
more of the fireworks," said DeSanctis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 313.21 points,
or 1.4%, to 22,014.27, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 39.15 points, or
1.49%, to 2,587.5 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 77.74
points, or 1%, to 7,696.41.
The blue-chip Dow is on course for its biggest quarterly
percentage decline since 1987, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is
set for its worst three months since 2018.
The energy index .SPNY rose nearly 2%, boosted by a
rebound in prices from 18-year lows after the United States and
Russia agreed to discuss stabilizing energy markets. O/R
"The rebound in oil has been a driver for energy. Here's a
group that has had a tough go of it," said DeSanctis.
The sector has lost about half its value this year from the
double whammy of the coronavirus and the Russia-Saudi Arabia
price war, forcing refiners to cut production and join a slate
of U.S. firms looking to raise cash as liquidity evaporated.
The biggest decliners on Tuesday were real estate, down 4%,
utilities .SPLRCU , down almost 3% and financials .SPSY , down
around 2%.
"We've seen some of the more defensive areas like real
estate and utilities recently start to underperform as people
trying to take on a little more risk as they're slowly creeping
out of the defensive stocks and into the more cyclical groups"
said DeSanctis.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT bounced between gains and losses
on the day and were last down 0.7%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.08-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.16-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 33 new lows.