Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted temporarily Monday after indexes plunged 7%; the Dow fell 7.29% to 23,797.90 points as was also temporarily halted, before extending its drop past 2,000 points when trading restarted.
“In this volatile environment, there is a flurry of activity with traders moving in and out of positions to capture profits and limit losses. And the goal of these circuit breakers is really to help the markets take a breather and inject some liquidity back into the system,” said Rick Swope, senior director for investor education at E*TRADE. “Today is already shaping up to be a wild day and while it remains to be seen if more circuit breakers will be pulled, it’s not completely out of the question.”
The crash comes after the implosion of an alliance between OPEC and Russia caused the worst one-day crash in oil prices in almost 30 years. The oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, combined with the COVID-19 Coronavirus fear that’s sweeping the globe after Italy quarantined 17 million people in Northern Italy, is causing major turmoil in the markets.
The Trump administration on Monday downplayed the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak.
So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
The number of confirmed U.S. cases of coronavirus was at 566 on Monday, including 22 deaths, most of those in Washington state. Globally, there have been 111,332 cases and 3,897 deaths.
