The value of overall sales decreased 0.5% from the prior month after a 0.6% gain in January, Commerce Department figures showed Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.2% advance.

Sales in the “control group” subset, which some analysts view as a more reliable gauge of underlying consumer demand, were little changed, compared with projections for a 0.4% gain. The measure excludes food services, car dealers, building-materials stores and gasoline stations.

The report suggests consumers had already begun to scale back before the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. began accelerating. It’s not clear if the figures reflect any added boost from widespread supply stockpiling as Americans headed to grocery stores and online retailers to buy the essentials. Grocery store sales fell 0.1% after a 0.2% decline, the report showed.

The numbers starting from March on are likely to show a deep hit to many categories as conferences, restaurants and sports shut down across the nation.

Spending at automobile dealers fell 0.9%. Excluding automobiles and gasoline, retail sales dropped 0.2% from the prior month, compared with projections for a gain.

Personal-spending figures will offer a fuller picture of U.S. consumption in data due at the end of the month.

Topping the list is a 50 per cent reduction in landing and parking fees for all Thai and foreign airliners from April 1 to December 31.

Another is an extension of the reduction in jet fuel excise to December 31 from the original expiry date of September 30.

Airports of Thailand president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said passenger number at AOT’s six airport last month dropped 27.7 per cent year on year. During March 1 to 16, the number fell 49 per cent on average and even plunged to 60 per cent on some days.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will present details to Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, two of the officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Mnuchin would like to see the package pass the Senate by the end of the week, he told senators Monday evening in a meeting at the Capitol.

“I think the assumption’s going to be that we’re going to do something, it should be big. Because we can’t assume that we’re just going to keep coming back,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Monday night leaving a meeting with Mnuchin and other administration officials.

Rubio said aid to airlines was likely to be included. “We still need to get people around the country. I have no doubt that’s going to be a major feature of the next step.”

It’s unclear how warmly the design of the White House’s proposal will be received. Trump has for several weeks pushed Congress to cut or eliminate the payroll tax, which is paid by employees and employers and funds Social Security and Medicare benefits. Many Democrats have complained that such a tax cut would not necessarily directly benefit people who have lost jobs because of the coronavirus crisis. But lawmakers have, in recent days, talked about the need for a huge economic package to stabilize the economy, and it’s likely that some ideas are being revisited.

The attempt to inject a massive amount of money into the economy is reminiscent of the bailouts and stimulus steps Congress took during the economic crisis more than a decade ago. This time around, with everyday life in America screeching to a halt, the intervention may need to be faster and even more extreme. In 2008, Congress passed a $700 billion package, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to try and rescue the financial system.

The package the White House is pursuing now would be bigger, not adjusted for inflation, but it would include things like tax cuts that the 2008 program lacked.

Still, the economic fallout from the current crisis only appears to be gaining momentum. Many schools have closed around the country, and the federal government told Americans Monday to limit gatherings of more than 10 people. President Donald Trump warned a recession could be on the horizon.

The massive package now under consideration would be the third step Congress has taken as it moves rapidly to address aspects of the pandemic.

Earlier this month Congress approved $8.3 billion in emergency spending for public health programs, and last week the House passed a package with paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, money for food stamps, free coronavirus testing and more. That legislation must still pass the Senate after the House approved modifications late Monday that were billed as “technical corrections” but actually scaled back the sick leave provisions.

The changes in triggering the Circuit Breaker are as follows:

– The first Circuit Breaker will stop trading for 30 minutes when the index fell over 8 per cent, instead of 10 per cent.

– The second Circuit Breaker will stop trading for another 30 minutes when the index fell by more than 15 per cent.

– The third Circuit Breaker will stop trading for 60 minutes when the index fell by over 20 per cent.

“When trading resumes after SET pushed the third Circuit Breaker, the market will not stop trading regardless of whether the drop continues until close,” he said.

“This measure will be effective for the short term from March 18 until June 30 this year.”

He added that the committee also approved to adjust the stock ceiling-floor to plus or minus 15 per cent from the previous 30 per cent to lessen volatility.

The central bank also injected money into the foreign exchange market to enhance liquidity of US dollars in the market, she said.

Her announcement came as foreign investors made a net-sell of Thai bonds worth of Bt72.5 billion year to date as of March 16. Investors also dumped Thai shares, sending the Stock Exchange of Thailand Index into a downward spiral of more than 30 per cent since early January. The baht currency has weakened as well, today passing the threshold of 32 per dollar.

The latest Thai central bank action is in line with global central banks, which are rescuing markets via bond purchases and rate cuts to prevent economies sliding into a recession due to the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Federal Reserve also cut its benchmark rates to 0.25 per cent.

Some analysts believe the Thai central bank will cut its benchmark rate to 0.75 per cent from the current 1 per cent at a meeting scheduled for March 25.

The buying price of a gold bar was Bt22,500 per baht weight and selling price Bt22,600 at 4.49pm, while gold ornaments cost Bt22,088.12 and Bt23,100, respectively.

The prices decreased from the morning when a gold bar cost Bt22,600 to buy and Bt22,700 to sell, with gold ornaments costing Bt22,194.24 and Bt23,200, respectively.

Comex futures gold contracts to be delivered in April dropped by US$30.20 to $1,486.50 (Bt47,569.80) per ounce at Monday’s close due to uncertainty following the impact on the global economy by the Covid-19 coronavirus.

A stock analyst at Tisco Securities said the SET Index had dropped more than 30 per cent from the beginning of this year, while his counterpart at Krungsri Securities expected the SET Index to move between 1,020 and 1,030 today as investors remained under pressure from the global economic uncertainties and Covid-19.

They explained that although the US Federal Reserve had made an emergency interest rate cut by one percentage point to almost zero and used a “quantitative easing” bond purchase programme to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, investors still sold their stocks to reduce risks, resulting in negative sentiment for investment.

The top ten stocks with the highest trade values today were BAM , PTT, CPALL, GULF, AOT, ADVANC, PTTEP, SCC, CPF, and GPSC.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 17,011.53, up 9.49 points, or 0.056 per cent.

China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 2,779.64, down 9.61 points, or 0.34 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 10,202.75, down 50.53 points, or 0.49 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 23,263.73, up 200.16 points, or 0.87 per cent.

South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 1,672.44, down 42.42 points, or 2.47 per cent.

Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 9,439.63, down 278.14 points, or 2.86 per cent.