US STOCKS-Wall St slumps again as fears continue to spiral, Dow all but erases 'Trump-bump'

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* NYSE to go to all-electronic trading
* S&P 500 losses trigger another trading halt
* Indexes down: Dow 6.3%, S&P 500 5.2%, Nasdaq 4.7%

(Adds NYSE announcement, details on Senate's passing
legislation)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks deepened their
selloff on Wednesday and the Dow erased virtually the last of
its gains since President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration, as
the widening repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic
threatened to cripple economic activity.
The benchmark S&P 500 index ended down 5.2%, though it pared
losses late in the day as the U.S. Senate passed legislation to
provide billions of dollars to limit the damage from the
outbreak through free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave and
expanded safety-net spending. In a move likely to add to the anxiety, the
Intercontinental Exchange Inc ICE.N , owner of the New York
Stock Exchange, said after the bell that the NYSE will
temporarily close its trading floors and move fully to
electronic trading beginning Monday. The NYSE said a floor trader and an NYSE employee had tested
positive for the coronavirus, but that they had not entered the
stock exchange building. Trading and regulatory oversight of all
NYSE-listed securities will continue without interruption, the
exchange said.
With airports and hotels emptying and airlines asking staff
to take unpaid leave to stem losses, the S&P 1500 airlines index
.SPCOMAIR sank 20.8% on Wednesday. Shares in major hotel
operators Hilton HLT.N , Marriott MAR.O and Hyatt H.N fell
by about 12% to 19%.
"The market's really reacting to fear and uncertainty and we
don't think it's over until it finds a floor on stock prices.
The floor will have to be found in containment of the viral
spread and limiting the economic toll of the virus," said Nela
Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones.
By Wednesday's close, the Dow was up just 0.4% from where it
was on Jan. 20, 2017, the day of Trump's inauguration, although
it remains up almost 9% from when Trump unexpectedly won the
presidential election on Nov. 8, 2016, often referred to as the
"Trump Bump."
The S&P 500 is now down about 29% from the record closing
high it notched on Feb. 19, as the coronavirus-inspired selloff
ended Wall Street's longest-ever bull run.
In one of the most dire forecasts yet issued for the
potential hit from the epidemic, a JP Morgan economist said the
U.S. economy could shrink 4% this quarter and 14% next quarter,
and for the year it is likely to shrink 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1,338.46
points, or 6.3%, to 19,898.92, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 131.09
points, or 5.18%, to 2,398.1, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
dropped 344.94 points, or 4.7%, to 6,989.84.
The dramatic stimulus measures have only provided
short-lived bounces in equities, with investors factoring in a
global recession and worrying about the duration of the damage
extending into the summer.
Wednesday's selling at one point triggered another 15-minute
trading cutout at a 7% decline in yet another day of volatile
trading. The Cboe Volatility index .VIX ended up at 76.45.
"This market went from a position of where we were fearless
back at the beginning of February to some days like today where
you feel hopeless about what's going on in the market," said
Wayne Wicker, chief investment officer of Vantagepoint
Investment Advisers.
The day's worst-performing S&P sector was the S&P 500 energy
sector .SPNY , which closed at its lowest level since early
2003. U.S. crude futures fell nearly 17% on Wednesday, having
touched their lowest prices in 18 years.
Worries about mass debt defaults or writedowns pressured
U.S. lenders, sending the S&P 500 banking subsector .SPXBK
down 7.9%.
Shares in plane maker Boeing Co BA.N , long a symbol of
U.S. tech and industrial power, sank another 17.9%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
12.71-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 8.79-to-1 ratio favored
decliners.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and 294 new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 11 new highs and 1,214 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 18.51 billion shares, compared
to the 14.6 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.