Look at these clowns would you,
They must think the roof is going to fall inontop of them,
Like a plastic crash helmet is going to save them,
Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahah
Wall Street down by almost 8 per cent due to coronavirus, oil prices crashUpdated 10 minutes ago
PHOTO: Stocks plummeted at the start of the trading week in Wall Street. (Reuters: Brendan McDermid)RELATED STORY: Shares, super hammered as $137 billion wiped off ASX in worst day since GFCRELATED STORY: Petrol prices expected to drop to $1 a litre as oil stocks smashedRELATED STORY: 'Stay at home': Italy's entire population under travel restrictions amid coronavirus crisisStocks on Wall Street fell by nearly 8 per cent overnight, triggering the first automatic halt in trading in over two decades, as coronavirus fears and a crash in oil prices sent a shudder through financial markets.
Key points:- Wall Street closed down 7.8 per cent, its worst day since the global financial crisis in 2008
- The market drop triggered an automatic trading halt mechanism which has not been used since 1997
- The combination of oil prices crashing and the impact of coronavirus was described as "a perfect storm"
The Dow Jones plunged more than 8 per cent at one point during the day and closed down 7.8 per cent, or 2,014 points to 23,851 — its heaviest loss since the darkest days of the 2008 global financial crisis.
European markets also had their worst day since the GFC, with the FTSE in London down 7.7 per cent, echoing
Australia's 7.3 per cent dip on Monday.
Japanese stocks entered a bear market as US stocks threatened to do the same. A bear market is defined as a drop of 20 per cent from its peak.
The 15-minute pause in trading on Wall Street was triggered by an automatic cut-off mechanism introduced after the Black Monday crash of 1987 and modified over the years to give investors a chance to catch their breath.
PHOTO: Coronavirus has closed factories, schools and stores and led to travel bans and unprecedented quarantines. (AP: Mark Lennihan)The circuit-breaker has only ever been triggered once before, in 1997.
In futures trade in Australia, the ASX SPI 200 fell 4.4 per cent to 5,452, indicating another day of steep local falls.
An oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia sparked the US sell-off as it sent the price of crude oil down by nearly 25 per cent.
Oil prices plunged to $US34.48 per barrel in the worst losses since the 1991 Gulf War.
PHOTO: Wall Street has not seen a drop like this since the global financial crisis. (AP: Richard Drew)It came after Saudi Arabia decided to slash oil prices after OPEC talks collapsed, and Russia failed to agree on production cuts.
Chris Zaccarelli, the chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, described the oil and coronavirus combination as "a perfect storm".
"You've got a lot of uncertainty in terms of how far the virus will spread in the US," he said.
"Layer onto this the oil price cut … Today is all about oil being the straw that broke the camel's back."
Rate cuts can't cure COVID-19
Reserve Bank interest rate cuts will do little to keep Australia out of a deep recession if coronavirus becomes a severe pandemic, but there are some unconventional policies that could help save the economy.On Twitter, US President Donald Trump blamed the "market drop" on the fight between Saudi Arabia and Russia, "and the fake news", but added it would be "good for the consumer" with petrol prices set to come down.
While
low oil prices can translate into cheaper petrol, they wreak havoc on energy companies and countries that count on petroleum revenue, including the world's top producer, the US.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 plunged 7.4 per cent in the first few minutes after the opening bell before trading stopped.
"The market has had a crisis of confidence," Baird investment strategist Willie Delwiche said.
Italy's market fell more than 11 per cent before the country's
Prime Minister announced the whole nation was being put into lockdown after efforts to contain coronavirus to the north failed.
Britain, France and Germany were down between 7.7 and 8.4 per cent.
ABC/wires
Topics:stockmarket,
markets,
business-economics-and-finance,
oil-and-gas,
diseases,
united-statesFirst posted about 3 hours ago
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