@loudobbstonight. good night from new york. cheryl: it is 5:00 a.m. here are your top stories at this hour. a much different picture for wall street this morning. futures are rallying after they posted their steepest single day drop ever. president trump promising to help airlines if they struggle with the coronavirus, giving markets a boost right now, dow futures up 231 points, a gain of more than 1%. lauren: a much different scene for major american cities as they go into coronavirus lockdown with the closings of bars and restaurants and president trump says it could last for months. cheryl: but there could be help on the way. a coronavirus relief bill heading to the senate that could put money in people's pockets. it is tuesday, march 17th. "fbn: a.m." starts right now.

♪ lauren: it is march 17th, saint patrick's day. it will look a lot different this year. good morning to you at home. i'm lauren simonetti. cheryl: i'm cheryl casone. as you can tell, our show looks a little different this morning. fox business is practicing social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak, just like all of you are, hopefully at home this morning. lauren: the show must go on. we have a packed hour for you, lots of information to get to you so let's get to it and take a look at how your money is moving this morning. the good news is, futures are up about 1% across the board, 200 points on the dow, this comes after the biggest drops we've ever seen. the dow will open today at the lowest level since 2017. cheryl: markets plummeting yesterday, the worst losses

since 1987, the market really closing at the close after the president indicated this crisis could last until july or august. there are the closing numbers from yesterday. the dow lost 2,997 points, almost 13%, s&p down 324 and change, loss of almost 12%, nasdaq losing 970 points, the worst loss for the nasdaq in reported history. lauren: nervous investors buy bonds, the yield on the 10 year treasury this morning is rising about 7 basis points, 0.8%. cheryl: checking oil, we did see a boost in the contract of more than 4% overnight. right now, oil is up just 1 and-a-half percent. this is wti. the gold story continues with that flight to safety yesterday and as you can expect, with futures higher, we're seeing a little bit of a loss in gold, a loss of a quarter percent. lauren: see saw session in asia, stocks ending mixed, japan

fractiofractionally higher, chia third of 1% lower. cheryl: the president of france closing the borders there, italy is in the grips of the crisis but right now the dax in germany is slightly lower, cac 40 as you can see is down about a quarter percent. we've watching the ftse as well. now to our top story. many americans are waking up this morning to a much different reality. usually bust linusually butsline quiet. lauren: governors in new york, new jersey and connecticut ordered the closure of all gyms, movie theaters, as well as casinos. in san francisco, the bay area, ordering people to shelter in place until april 7th. cheryl: president trump is using some strong words to describe the impact on america from the coronavirus. the president speaking at the white house, calling it the

pandemic an invisible enemy and that he admitted for the first time this could push the u.s. economy into recession. >> i'm gla it may be. we're not thinking in terms of recession, we're thinking in terms of the virus. there's a pent-up demand in terms of the stock market and the economy. once this goes away, once it goes through and we're done with it i think you're going to see a tremendous surge. lauren: pent-up demand, we'll see. president trump promising the u.s. will bail out the airline industry which has been rocked by coronavirus. >> we're going to back the airlines 100%, not their fault. it's nobody's fault, unless you go to the original source. but it's nobody's fault. and we're going to be in a position to help the airlines very much. we're going to be backstopping the airlines, helping them very much. it's very important. cheryl: the airline industry is seeking more than $50 billion in government assistance. american airlines has the

largest amount of debt right now among the big u.s. carriers. that stock closed up more than 11%. excuse me, down -- excuse me, up more than 11% yesterday. delta, jetblue, united, sweet alsouthwest all in the red. the debt story for american could be big. lauren: meanwhile, the house making changes to the coronavirus aid bill that was originally passed by the house last week. cheryl: jackie obanes has what's in the new bill. jackie, good morning. >> reporter: house lawmakers unanimously approving a revamped coronavirus bill. the trump administration and house speaker nancy pelosi hammering out negotiations after it passed last weekend. it includes paid emergency leave for american workers, two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave. the senate is expected to take up the plans today. it comes as the president's task

force outlines a 15-day plan of new restrictions for americans. it urges people to stay home and avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel. americans are urged to use drive-through, pick-up or delivery options. president trump warning the outbreak could last until july or august, while urging americans to follow their guidelines. >> if everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus. we would much rather be ahead of the curve than behind it. >> reporter: acting dhs secretary sounding off on whether domestic traffic restrictions is under consideration. >> it's something we continue to look at, certainly in the task force. there are no immediate plans for any domestic travel restrictions. we like to keep all options on the table. >> reporter: there are over 4600 covid-19 cases in 49 states and washington, d.c.

at least 85 people have died. the first trial testing for a potential vaccine started monday. according to the national institutes of health. doctors in seattle plan to test it on 45 men and women. however, president trump's task force says a public vaccine will not be available for at least a year. back to you guys. cheryl: jackie, thank you very much. grocery stores are now under pressure to accommodate shoppers most vulnerable to covid-19. check out these really eerie images of empty shelves nationwide as people run to get food and supplies. lauren: these are probably what people are seeing when they go to the food store or drugstore, driving into work today i saw delivery trucks delivering food to the food stores, delivering supplies. let's go to todd piro at a morton william's grocery store in new york city. todd, residents are certainly under tight restrictions. >> reporter: lauren and cheryl, good morning. they're telling us not to hoard food, buy only what you need. you know if you've been to a

supermarket, store shelves, especially meat sections look like this. there's just a smattering of leftover shops. people are stocking up for the unknown and stores face intense pressure to keep up with demand, both the products and hours. no, sionline food shopping is increasingly popular. these stores offering senior hours including right here where we are, allowing seniors to have a less crowded shopping environment so they can get what they need. all these food measures increasingly necessary in a world where how you eat and where you eat has drastically changed in just a few days. >> avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel, and avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants, and public food courts. >> reporter: all this comes as large metro areas put restrictions on public life

including santa clara, california. >> these new orders direct all individuals to shelter at their place of residence and maintain social distancing of at least six feet from any other person when outside their residence. it was crafted in order to balance the public health imperative to take swift action. >> reporter: here in new york, governor cuomo asking that only essential services and businesses remain open. that obviously does include grocery stores. you can see them getting box offeresof new supplies to restok shelves. governor cuomo adding those restrictions could become mandatory at some point in the future. lauren: todd, thank you very much. cheryl: two major retailers are putting up the help wanted sign to meet a jump in sales from the coronavirus. amazon, they're going to hire 100,000 people in the united states to deliver packages and work in the warehouses. amazon is also hiking its hourly wage by $2 per hour for its u.s.

workers along with pay raises for workers in europe and in the u.k. and kroger is looking to bring on hundreds of workers, a strange twist to this story. lauren: it's good news and we will take it. let me add to it. several automakers are offering to help customers because of the fallout from the coronavirus. owners of new cars can defer payments. customers who have existing auto loans can have their payments rescheduled. and the fda is announcing that it will allow private companies to begin marketing their coronavirus test kits to the public without prior approval. commissioner steven hahn says they will test the accuracy of each test retroactively, help to strike a flexible approach between speed and regulatory oversight. it's meant to ease the chronic shortage of test kits that are available. cheryl: some of the biggest tech companies are asking for help in fighting false information during the pandemic. microsoft along with google,

facebook and others are joining forces now. in a statement, the companies say they are doing what they can to combat fraud and highlight critical updates from officials. facebook has been censoring the information about the virus and twitter has been taking similar steps. companies are hoping others will join them in these efforts. lauren: ohio's democratic primaries canceled overnight, hours before the polls were set to open. we have to remember today is also a primary day in many states. despite the nationwide health emergency we're seeing, three statedecided to move -- three ss decided to move forward with elections today. cheryl: griff jenkins has a report from washington. >> reporter: good morning. biden and sanders will have to wait at least three months to battle for buckeye state ballots. ohio's governor and secretary of state announcing last night that the only thing more important than free and ferrell exes is the -- fair elections is the health and safety of ohioans.

the governor explains. >> on the one hand, we're told to stay home and take care of ourselves and yet we want to exercise our constitutional rights. and so that was something that we wanted to enable people to be able to do both. >> reporter: the coronavirus won't stop every primary. voters in the three other states, florida, illinois and arizona, will head to the polls today where there are 441 delegates up for grabs, florida offering 219 delegates. the governor had this to say. >> the health officials said given the nature of the primary, given the way you go in and do one oval most of the time for most counties that that can be e safely. >> reporter: candidates continue to campaign, sanders holding a virtual rally featuring neil

young and actress darryl hannah with a call to supporters to stream the bern. biden held a tele town hall, putting safety as a top priority. coming into the contest, biden holds a healthy lead, 890 to 736. we'll see what today brings. in addition to ohio, three other states announced postponing their elections, louisiana, georgia and kentucky. they may not be the last. lauren, cheryl. cheryl: griff jenkins, thank you so much. let's take a look at what futures are doing this morning. we are seeing green arrows. at one point the dow was up in the premarket about 800 points. we've retrenched from that at this point. the dow is now up 174, a gain of almost 1%. again, yesterday the worst day since 1987 for the markets, we are in bear market territory. we shall see if there's a snapback today. nasdaq is up 102 and change. many americans have been forced

to stay home. businesses across the country have closed. mitt romney proposing giving every american adult $1,000. would that really stimulate the economy? lauren: if social distancing getting you down, how are some companies trying to make your alone time a bit more manageable? we'll have those details and we all need them, straight ahead on "fbn: a.m.."

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how can we help you? 1 in 3 deaths is caused by cardiovascular disease. millions of patients are treated with statins-but up to 75% persistent cardiovascular risk still remains. many have turned to fish oil supplements. others, fenofibrates or niacin. but here's a number you should take to heart: zero-the number of fda approvals these products have, when added to statins, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. ask your doctor about an advancement in prescription therapies with proven protection. visit truetoyourheart.com in the transportation industry without knowing firsthandness the unique challenges in that sector? coming out here, seeing the infrastructure firsthand, we can make better informed investment decisions. that's why i go beyond the numbers. cheryl: here is a look at some other headlines making news today. joe biden has been declared the winner in last week's primary in

washington state. that gives the former vice president victories in five out of six. biden beat sanders by at least 21,000 votes. sanders' only win last week, north dakota. a california judge has ruled in favor of a bankruptcy financing package for one of the nation's largest utilities, pg&e will be allowed to raise $23 billion to help pay bills following the wildfires, that decision comes after governor gavin newsom dropped his opposition to a finance package. the fires left many dead and it was blamed on pg&e's outdaylighted system. well, a delta flight has gotten grounded after a coronavirus scare. a spokesperson said a passenger may have been exposed to the virus. that flight en route to seattle from new york before it turned around. the customer was evaluated while other fliers on-board were put on a new flight. and finally, more events are falling victim to the coronavirus. wwe is going to hold wrest he'le

mania 36 without and audience. nascar is postponing all events through may third. the kentucky derby will be held in september instead of may 2nd. the met gal la is also pushed back. it's been held at the metropolitan museum of art since 2005. they have not announced a new date. lauren: the major averages pushed back too. they saw the biggest point losses ever yesterday. the dow tumbled nearly 3,000 points as coronavirus slams the brakes on the u.s. economy. hopes of pent-up demand returning, hopes of fiscal stimulus giving futures a lift this morning. dow's up 180 as i speak, mitch roschelle is here. good morning. >> good morning, lauren. lauren: is the market uninvestable at this point? we're dark on earnings and what companies see as their immediate

future being. we've seen the economy close down. the world over. is the market uninvestable. >> i wouldn't say that. in honor of the market being up in the premarket i'm wearing a green tie. what's interesting is, the thing to remember, every time there's a transaction in the market, there's a buyer and a seller. i think it's investable. it's just a question of what the price is. as there's all of this uncertainty, every time we find prices, we find them lower, the prospects of some fiscal stimulus package coming out of the house or some of the things we'll talk about in the senate, that's what has the market a little more optimistic this morning. lauren: speaking of fiscal stimulus, mitt romney has a plan, to get every american -- i get $1,000, you get $1,000. you get it right away, you keep it simple, you keep it direct. this is a republican, this is a conservative. tim cotton echoing the same

sentiment, that this is a way to get out of the coronavirus or manage it whavment do you make of this. >> i think mitt romney is channeling his inner andrew yang with this policy. what's interesting is -- i think you nailed it in the question, which is how complicated -- when i looked at the proposal from the house with tax credits and going back and asking for refunds, i worry operationally that's not going to get money in people's hands when they need it the most. if you're a waitress or waiter in a restaurant and all of a sudden because of restaurant closures you see your income dried up or you're an uber driver or someone in the gig economy and you see your income cried up, get -- dried up, getting money into those people's hands so they can pay bills and pay their rent, i think that's the intention of it. it's not unprecedented many we saw it in 2008. we saw it in 2001. will be interesting to see how it moves through the senate, if it makes its way through the house. it was interesting because it was proposed by a republican. lauren: that same republican

also recommending bridge loans for small businesses, so they can keep the business open and keep employees on the payroll. mitch, do you think the gains that we're seeing right now, yes or no, can stick come the close or do you see more selling today? >> there is a myriad of headlines that are going to cross the wire over the course of the day, so if i'm a betting man, it's hard to really say. the thing to note though is last night the s&p futures were limit up, meaning they were up over the 5% and they're losing steam, that's not a good sign going into the trading day. lauren: mitch is saying i don't know. >> i don't know. what i'm saying is i don't know. lauren: no one does. thank you so much. happy saint pay trick's -- st. patrick's day. cheryl: there's a lot we don't know. how long the coronavirus could last, that's one of the biggest questions we've gotten. we've got a medical expert coming up next to clear fact from fiction. lauren: major restaurant chains

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cheryl: many restaurants making changes to protect employees and customers. mcdonald's closing all dining rooms at company-owned restaurants, instead stores will serve customers through take-out, drive-throughs or delivery. panda express, taco bell and chick-fil-a also closing dining areas and will only operate drive-throughs. starbucks closed many locations in high risk areas while other locations are only going to operate on a to-go basis. and then there's this. adidas will not close its stores. the ceo there said the stores will stay open to ensure its employees can get paid.

>> people are talking about july, august, something like that. so it could be right in that period of time. no matter where you look, this is something -- it's an invisible enemy. lauren: that was president trump yesterday saying he thinks the u.s. may not be able to contain the virus outbreak until at least august. could it really last that long? if so, how do americans prepare. here to discuss, emergency room physician and former u.s. marine, dr. richard mccormick. thank you for joining us. thank you for everything you're doing to battle coronavirus. you put your life at risk every day. thank you for that. what is it, day 57 that we're dealing with coronavirus in the u.s. have we truly made progress? because the president just said we could be dealing with this through summer. >> sure, we've made progress, if you look at the technology that was applied to this disease process. it's unprecedented if you compare it to other diseases in the past. we have a lot more information

sharing, we're developing all kinds of studies, we probably have about 80 studies in the world on different treatments for this. we have vaccinations being developed at record paces. we're able to share information on how this spreads and how to contain it better than ever before. if you think about other outbreaks we've had historically, we've had a lot worse than this. lauren: doctor, is it airborne, is coronavirus airborne? >> every virus can be airborne. they say it's droplets. of course with any virus, it's extremely small. it is airborne. lauren: can you explain that. if someone with coronavirus walks on the street next to me and i'm there, i breathe in the same air, do i -- can i get coronavirus? >> technically, you can get it from multiple sources. air is one of them. but just walking down the street, very, very low incidence. i wouldn't be worried about that. that's not how it spreads, typically, it's more through direct contact, close proximity.

indeed, even if you were exposed to coronavirus in a small amount like that, your body would be able to overcome that very quickly. lauren: we're doing social distancing now. it started in a big way, i'd say yesterday, and american's lives and people the world over are being drastically changed. when we look at south korea, how they've actively dealt with coronavirus -- because they've seen this before with mers and sars and you look at what's happening with italy and how their health system is really being threatened right now, do you think what we're doing in the u.s. will put us more on a south korea path or an italy plant? >> our hope is south korea. one of the things that makes italy unique, you have 60 million people in a small country. you have multiple generations living in households, they're an older population, their bell-shaped curve is non existent. they have a lot of older people compared to young people.

this disease picks on the elderly and immunocompromised. lauren: thank you for the time this morning. >> my pleasure. cheryl: we are taking a look at u.s. futures. we have seen a change in the last few moments after stocks suffered the biggest losses since '87, the dow was up almost 800 points overnight. the dow has just gone into negative territory, the dow is now down a point. s&p and nasdaq still hanging on, but we've really pulled back overnight. these markets are in bear market territory. we are watching your markets. we're also watching the white house, the president promised to help struggling airlines amid the coronavirus. how big of a bailout could be on the way? lauren: it's st. paddy's day but celebrations will look a lot different this year. we'll discuss how party goers around the globe plan to keep the party alive amid being on lockdown. keep it here on "fbn: a.m.." while the world keeps fighting for your attention.

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lauren: here is your morning cheat sheet, the top headlines to get you through your tuesday. take a look at futures right now, dow futures are now down 205 points. we started the show 32 minutes ago, they were up 200 points. this is volatility. yesterday, steepest drops point-wise for all three major averages. volatility record high, the vics at 82, last year it was at 13. we're seeing big swings in the markets and it is continuing this morning. president trump's task force outlining a 15 day plan of new restrictions for americans to contain covid-19, it urges people to stay home and avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating at shops and understands. americans are instead urged to use drive-throughs, pick-ups or delivery options. voters in florida, illinois and arizona will head to the polls today. ohio postponing its primary amid the coronavirus. they'll have it this summer.

kentucky and louisiana also postponing their primaries. cheryl: well, the airline industry is seeking $50 billion bailout from the government as it struggles amid the coronavirus outbreak. this is coming as industry insiders are questioning if domestic air travel may be suspended indefinitely at some point in the near future. let's bring in mike boyd. mike, good morning. >> good morning. cheryl: we're looking at the airline stocks from yesterday. except for american bouncing because of their debt load, the rest of the air like lines sector -- airlines sector suffered yesterday, as did the markets. the $50 billion bailout is it enough or is it too much? >> it's not too much. we have to keep the airline industry alive. there shouldn't be a nationwide ban. that happens, we'll just kill the airline industry and it's not going to come back. we have to keep our infrastructure going and if we don't do that, we're going to be much worse when this thing is over. so i think the $50 billion is right on the money. cheryl: what about the employees of the industry? we're going to start seeing

furloughs. we started to see obviously capacity cutbacks, that mean airline crews, baggage handlers, gate check agents, all of them are now at home. are you forecasting layoffs for the industry and could those be permanent considering that the industry is dealing with a huge financial shock right now? >> well, if we don't have a bailout to protect that industry, that will be permanent. we have to have reality in congress and we need to keep this thing going. and there will be some. we have not seen a huge dropoff yet at many smaller airports. but it's coming. we haven't seen the new schedules yet but they're coming. so i think what we have to do now is prepare for how we get through this over the next three to four to five months and then we'll be okay. but we just can't have any political shenanigans going on. cheryl: let me ask you about airports and cargo carriers. there's an industry group that wants $8 billion to go toward the cargo industry. if we can deliver amazon packages with groceries to americans, i think that would be a good thing and also airports. but can you see insolvency happening at u.s. airports?

are we going down that really negative road? >> no, i think airports are going to probably pull back on some capital expenditures. we're doing forecasts for a number of airports now, chinese virus forecasts, how it's going to affect them. but what we're seeing right now is in most cases airports are going to be safe for the near term because they're starting to hunker down. cheryl: what about boeing? boeing is reportedly in short-term with the government to get short-term government backstops put in place. is boeing at risk as much as the airlines operating planes right now in the air. >> absolutely. there's going to be a smaller demand for airplanes going forward even when this is over. the chinese airline business is toast. all the orders they had, they had 900 air lanes are -- airplanes on order. cheryl: do you think they shut

down domestic air travel in this country, yes or no? >> absolutely not. it would be a disaster. we're shutting down our airline system, have to refund billions of dollars, let's just shut down the airline system and go back to going on trains, it's a dumb idea. cheryl: thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it, mike. >> my pleasure. lauren: the tsa is relaxing a security rule aimed at helping americans stay safe. the agency said passengers can bring large bottles of hand sanitizers in carry-on bags. bottles up to 12-ounces will now be allowed. cans of disinfectant sprays, those, however, still banned, cheryl. cheryl: here is a look at what's happening today. president trump and vice president pence are going to meet with tourism executives. they are expected to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their industry. representatives from major hotel chains, theme parks, travel associations all will be on-hand. lauren: tom hanks and rita

wilson are on the mend from the coronavirus. the two did test positive while in australia last week. they're now in self quarantine at their home in queensland. and avengers actor idris elba reveals he has tested positive for coronavirus. he was tested after realizing he came in contact with someone else who did test positive. cheryl: and the drop kick murphies are still celebrating st. patrick's day despite the coronavirus outbreak. the band known for irish influenced rock music will live stream their yearly concert. it will be available on youtube and the band's social media pages at 7:00 p.m. eastern time today, lauren, because it is st. patrick's day and it's a strange, eerie st. patrick's day. lauren: neither one of us are wearing green today, cheryl. i did notice that we kind of forgot about it. let's take a look at futures this morning. you were seeing green, but now it is red. dow down 232, s&p down 28,

nasdaq down 33. european losses did intensify. we turned lower in the u.s. speaking of europe, the european union is preparing to vote on a 30-day travel ban as the number of coronavirus cases surge there. we're also watching that today. cheryl: well, the eu preparing to vote on that 30-day travel ban. coronavirus cases, they've surged but imagine living there and not knowing that there's even a pandemic happening around you. we're going to talk about that coming up next. ♪ do you recall, not long ago ♪ we would walk on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪

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cheryl: covid-19 cases around the world are outpacing china. a global effort to contain the deadly virus is underway as the european union prepares to vote on a 30-day travel ban. lauren: let's go to tray yingst. he's in jerusalem as more nations go on lockdown. >> reporter: with more than 180,000 cases of coronavirus being reported worldwide, there are now more global cases of the outbreak than in china where it first began. italy remains the most affected country in the western world with nearly 28,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths. the italian government has shut down the country, ordering people to stay home. only travel that is deemed essential is allowed for the entire population of 60 million. in other parts of europe, restrictions are tightening. this morning, germany will formally close its borders with the rest of the european union.

in other parts of europe, restrictions are tightening. today, germany will formally close its borders with the rest of the european union. france quickly followed suit, closing its borders. french president emmanuel macron called the fight against coronavirus a health war before issuing two weeks worth of restrictions. in spain, case numbers are rising quickly, surpassing 9,000 this week. the government nationalized all hospitals while asking citizens to stay indoors. this is what the president of the eu commission had to say. >> the less travel, the more we can contain the virus. i propose to the heads of government to introduce temporary restriction on nonessential travel to the european union. these travel restrictions should be in place for an initial period of 30 days. >> reporter: in the middle east, there are play juror concerns about the -- major concerns about the virus spreading among the refugee population in syria. in iran, more than 15,000 cases

are being reported there. in israel, there are new restrictions on public gatherings. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, closed down all restaurants, cafes and movie theaters. cheryl: thank you very much. here is other news making headlines. former wells fargo ceo tim sly y sloan losing out on $15 million after wells fargo decided to claw back his compensation. sloan became ceo of wells fargo shortly after a fake account scandal was revealed and he faced criticism for handling of the matters. the nfl starts its free agency period after making negative comments about kirk cousins earlier in the day. stefan digs was traded to the buffalo bills. it's being reported that omare cooper re-signed with the dallas

cowboys. bill de blasio is facing criticism after being photographed hitting a public gym last night. the mayor of new york, who told fellow new yorkers to stay home and ordered the closure of gyms by 8:00 p.m. tonight, he defended that decision, saying he needed to stay healthy for the people of the city. while the coronavirus pandemic dominated the news everywhere, there are still some in germany who don't have any idea of what's going on. the residence of big brother germany haven't been told of the outbreak, according to the show's producers. those participating in the show were cut off from the outside world during filming. after outcry from critics, producers announced they will inform participants during the live episode today. of course, they have to have it on television. lauren: i would love to see their reaction. let's take a look at your money this morning. after seeing near 3,000 point decline yesterday for the dow, it is down 155 this morning.

it could go under 20,000 today. s&p down 15, nasdaq up by 4 points. very volatile market. the fed cutting rates over the weekend but did they back themselves into a corner by doing so? that's a question we're going to ask our next guest. cheryl: we're going to talk about that. and the coronavirus pandemic causing fear but we have feel-good stories of americans that are helping each other through this crisis. you want to keep it here for that on "fbn: a.m.." t. rowe price experts go beyond the numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand, like innovations in agricultural research. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price invest with confidence.

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cheryl: stocks ignoring the federal reserve's latest interest rate cut, the major averages racking up their biggest point losses ever yesterday. we haven't seen a performance like this in the markets since

1987. our next guest says expect more volatility until the number of new coronavirus cases starts to fall. craig dismuke, chief economist from vining sparks is here. craig, good morning. >> good morning. cheryl: the fed took this action on sunday, markets did not have a good reaction yesterday. we're now seeing futures somewhat of a rebound but it's pretty muted. the economic story behind this seems to be the concerns about a recession. what's your forecast for q1, for q2? >> our forecast for q1 is slightly weaker than it was coming into the quarter, but still for growth. the bigger impact we expect to see in the second quarter, this full stop we've seen on consumer activity, the shutdown in some business investment, i think we'll see that start to play flew the second quarter and to your point, the markets right now, all of the volatility we're seeing, the markets have no idea what direction we're going. they don't know how long this virus will last, don't know how much it will spread, how many cities will have to go on lockdown. they're trying to price that in. there's no certainty.

that's what's creating the volatility. cheryl: do you have a number of q1 and q2? for q1, goldman sachs says it's sitting at zero. q2, negative 5%. what do you say? >> so it's difficult to put an actual number on that, in our forecast that we published we put a 1% contraction in the second quarter. again, any forward-looking forecast right now is contingent on trying to identify how this virus spreads, which really epidemiologists, nobody knows how this will spread. it's very difficult to have any kind of certainity about our forecast. cheryl: i understand it's tough to call what the future holds. the president yesterday, we saw the markets really kind of fall off the cliff when the president said july, august is when we could see this virus spread. is there a more hopeful forecast do you think, especially considering that the markets are hoping within the next two months we could see this virus over. >> yeah, i think he's trying to prepare us for a worst case

scenario. the thinking coming into this was that perhaps like other coronaviruses it would start to die out as the temperature began to warm up. and so we'll see. we don't know that yet. there's no history of -- on this virus. and so we don't know how it will actually behave but the hope is that as the temperature begins to warm it will start to fade out and the contagion rate will start to drop. but again, we really have no certainity about that. cheryl: i know these are tough questions. we're in tough times right now, craig, i appreciate your honesty and candidness. at the same time, i think we should talk about ideas to help the average american worker. this is the economic story. mitt romney is proposing giving every adult american $1,000. tulsi gabbard saying we should give out $1,000, maybe every month. what's the right decision from washington to help americans that maybe can't pay their rent or mortgage over the next month. >> that's the challenge. that's what makes this fundamentally different than 2008.

coming into the coronavirus issue, the economy was strong. households were strong, businesses were in pretty good position and leaving this i think we could be in a position where the economy is still stable as well but we're going into a period of a month or two, at the least it looks like, where there's almost a full stop on activity. so trying to get loans, trying to get credit provided to these businesses, to households who are going to face interruptions in their cash flow, i think is the key. i think it's going to require creativity from policy makers. former fed governor kevin warsh had an op ed in the wall street journal, talking about a need to be creative and provide a lending program for those folks affected. i think that's what's critical right now. cheryl: we talked about that op ed yesterday morning on "fbn: a.m.." it got a lot of play yesterday. thank you very much for being here. certainly keep us updated as your forecast models change. we would love to have you back. >> thank you. cheryl: lauren? lauren: are you ready for this. the dow is down just 43 points, s&p down about 5 this morning,

nasdaq up half of 1%, that's 29 points to the upside. so this is volatility at its best. cheryl: yeah. if all this market volatility is getting you down, we're going to bring you some feel-good stories about how americans are coming together during this time of crisis. stay with us on "fbn: a.m.."

video that shows you ho to do yoga, stretch, training. you can do them watching from your television. that's what peleton is doing. free on-demand services as well for 20-minute workouts that you'll be able to check at planet fitness facebook and you can feel in shape when eating all those snacks while stuck home. cheryl: i love it. pelaton sales will go crazy. let's talk about portland

distillrary. , what did they do? mike: what they did is they are taking all the excess alcohol that they would have after the stillry process and found out it's 80% alcohol and actually probably kill germs. they spoke with officials and authorities, and authorities said, listen, as long as you're not selling it, you can give it away for free. that's what they are using as hand sanitizer for residents. two young kids in ohio decide to do chelo concert for 78-year-old women and we decided to see how the kids did. ♪ ♪ mike: there you have it.

just trying to help people out there. many people are helping senior citizens, people going out to buy supplies for senior citizens. keep an eye out for those and do what you can. cheryl: what about groceries? people are tipping in and helping each other out? >> has 300 people chipping together and buying groceries and supplies for those elderly, senior citizens, either can't go or too afraid to go out due to coronavirus pandemic. we are seeing the spread all across facebook of people trying to help each other out. cheryl: sorry, lauren. i was worried to see elderly folks. mike: anybody needs to do what they can to help out one another and you have to keep the elderly

and high risk in your thoughts and try to help them out. finally, ladies, i didn't wear green but happy st. patrick's day to be everybody out there. this is supposed to be a four-leave clever. i hasn't done arts craft in a while. lauren: cheryl, this was new, this was fun. cheryl: i want to thank everybody for joining us on new reality on fbn:am, that sit for -- is it for it. now over to maria bartiromo. maria: top stories right now 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. coronavirus pandemic continues. president trump saying that we may be headed into a recession and pandemic can stretch into the summer time. white house releasing new guidelines yesterday to help spread of the virus in 15 days including recommendation not to