Meric Greenbaum, Designated Market Maker IMC financial looks up at the board before the opening bell right before trading halted on the New York Stock Exchange on March 9, 2020 in New York. Photo: AFP

A slump in the S&P 500 index after a 7 percent drop in the afternoon session on Wednesday triggered circuit break and a 15-minute halt to trading US stocks for an unprecedented fourth time.

Prior to this month, 89-year-old Warren Buffett, known as the "god of stocks" in China, had only seen the trading curb for the first and only time in October 1997. Circuit breakers were created for the US stock market following the 1987 crash.

Experiencing history-making punches together with Buffett has apparently inspired many of his followers in the world's second-largest stock market which has taken a hit from the US market beating in the past week. 

In an attempt to seek joy amid money-losing sorrow, some mainland investors joked that the wealth gap between them and the god of stocks has tremendously narrowed, as shares in Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway were reportedly off over 17 percent this month as of Wednesday's close.

The grueling plunge has turned global markets upside down with still no signs of arrest. Even the Trump administration appears to be all-in in resorting to its monetary tool kit. 

The Dow's 10,000-point rally had long been touted as a marvelous achievement under US President Donald Trump. With the Dow's gains since Trump was sworn in as president in January 2017 entirely erased on Wednesday, the stock basis for his presidency has collapsed. 

For a multitude of mainland investors who had previously envied a years-long bull run in US stocks that experienced very few deep falls, circuit breakers are apparently the new normal. 

A V-shaped rebound in mainland shares on Thursday that saw the tech-heavy ChiNext index closing higher might not do much to help stop the US market bleeding. 

They won't be that surprised if a fifth halt occurs in the coming days which will make them even closer to the god of stocks. 

But increasingly, they will, just like investors from the rest of the world, want to know how many drubbings they will have to experience before the devastating rout grinds to a halt. 

In answering the question, Trump, who is now calling himself a wartime president fighting an "invisible enemy," just days after dismissing the virus outbreak as some overhyped flu, ought to take action that will genuinely convince not only the American people, but the entire world, of the capacity of the US government in virus containment.

Money-spraying itself can't save the US market from the coronavirus pandemic. It is the timely and effective coronavirus response that would help restore investor confidence. Such efforts have shown to be still not enough so far and Trump ought to shake off his mercurial and inconsistent mentality to care about the key issue and come up with concrete, effective actions. 

Global Times