Wall Street’s main indexes dropped 7% and the Dow Jones crashed 2,000 points in what would be its biggest one-day fall ever in opening trade today.
Trading on US stock exchanges was halted immediately after today’s opening as the S&P 500 fell 7%, triggering an automatic 15 minute cutout put in place after the 2008-9 financial crisis.
Saudi Arabia’s move to raise oil production significantly after OPEC’s supply cut agreement with Russia collapsed sent ripples across global financial markets already panicking about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Crude oil logged its worst day in almost three decades, sending oil majors Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil down more than 9%. The energy index slumped 20.1%.
At 5.20pm Irish time, the Dow Jones was down 1,702 points (6.57), at 24,162 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 428 points (5.02%) at 8,102.
European shares plummeted across the board by close as a lockdown in northern Italy due to coronavirus outbreak and a 30% plunge in oil prices amplified fears of a global recession.
London’s commodity-heavy FTSE 100 closed down 7.6% this evening.
Shares of oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell were down more than 20% at
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