Stock trading halted after sharp falls on coronavirus fears

The trading of US stocks remained temporarily halted on Monday as the stocks dipped sharply due to the oil price plunge and coronavirus spreading fears. The shares have been suspended after facing the worst day since the 2008 financial crisis.

The oil prices dropped nearly 30% on Monday, its biggest fall in a day since the start of the first Gulf war in 1991. The stock markets around the world continue to experience dramatic falls due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which left the business world paralyzed.

The coronavirus outbreak has turned into a global pandemic after the spreading of the virus around the globe. The major benchmarks and crude were continuously hurt by the epidemic.

The stocks ended lower on Friday, with the Dow falling 1% to 25,864.78, the Nasdaq down 1.9% to 8,575.62, and the S&P 500 down 1.7% to 2,972.37. Elsewhere, the markets across the Asia Pacific region were in the red territory while the European markets showed substantial declines during the day.

Last week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries proposed for deeper output cuts but Russia rejected the plans on Friday increased the concerns of crude oil. In response, Saudi Arabia lowered its official selling oil prices with the intention to lift production.

The crude oil futures are down 16.88% at $34.31 in the early hours of the US stock market open. The Gold and Silver also experienced the impact of virus spread as the futures of both the metals were trading lower on Monday.

Read: Markets experienced the worst nightmare

The market analysts believe that if the coronavirus infection continues to weaken the stock market then the US economy could slip into a recession. The virus continues to have a big impact on the actions taken by humans as they started remaining on the sidelines and cautious.

There are more than 109,000 confirmed cases worldwide with Italy accounting for more than 7,000 cases, and more than 3,600 deaths. Italy has lockdown the northern region affecting about 16 million people, while Saudi Arabia closed off air and sea travel to nine countries in an effort to slow transmission.

In the US, there were at least 540 cases with California, Oregon, New York, and Washington State declaring emergencies. In the past few days, the newly confirmed cases of the virus nearly doubled in Europe, France, Germany, and Spain.

Meanwhile, 15 minutes after the trading halt, the stocks resumed trading with the S&P 500 and Dow reopening in extended losses. At 11:10 am, the S&P 500 is trading down 6.36% at 2,783.38, the Dow 30 is down 6.54% at 24,174.48, and the Nasdaq is down 5.74% at 8,083.27.

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