If virus concerns cause people to avoid other people or are hunkered down/quarantined somewhere, most all of the economy is going to slow down... regardless of money pumping. Any stimulus will only goose the markets for a time being. At some point savvy players will likely get it that the market rally will only make greater the divergence between stock prices and reality.... and short will become (continue to be?) the play. Just spit-ballin' here...
They are trying to 'stimulate' people into putting themselves at risk of contracting an infectious disease that could possibly kill them. And the talking heads are trying to convince everyone that this is a good thing.
It'll get a 30min rally then soon be forgotten about when the next bit of virus news hits, it's never good news there is the hint.
You sound as if the government actually cares about propping up the economy, when in fact, all they cared about (for the last 11 years) was propping up the stock market. It's a gargantuan task to stimulate the economy (too many unknowns) but it's relatively easy to push up the market. And that would curry favor with the wealthy class, which wouldn't be such a bad thing if you happen to be a politician. After all, they fund your re-election. That's what happened in 2008 with the Too-Big-to-Fail BS. The government bailed out Wall Street, especially their darling Goldman Sachs, at the expense of American public. Then the stock market took off like crazy, while the underlying economy stagnated for years.
Well, how about that? The Fed dropped their MOAB, and the markets went "meh". Do they have a Fat Man/Little Boy in their arsenal? Ludicrous to think pumping money is the cure for the market when people hole up to avoid contracting a fatal disease. So.. people aren't buying/can't buy things (or don't want to when a crowd of people is involved)... and if people aren't buying, no need to make things/provide services. Pumping the money is more like pissn' in the wind. I know.. the Fed is a "one trick pony". Looks like not the right trick this time. We never "took our medicine" over all the time when we had the chance. Now... looks like our medicine is going to be shoved down our collective throats. Woodrow Wilson* signed the legislation to give us the Fed. But on his death bed he apologized to the nation for having done that. *A major reason he's on my "worst president's of all time" list. Contrasting... Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter renewal of the equivalent of the Fed in his day and effectively disbanded it. He's on my list of BEST presidents of all times.