Oil sank below $30 a barrel Monday and Wall street stocks plunged more than ten per cent while the Johannesburg stock exchange fell by the most in history as the Coronavirus pounded global markets relentlessly unprecedented measures put in place by governments around the world.
Trading on the New York stock exchange was halted for the third day in one week while Brent, the internationally traded benchmark crude, is now trading at $30.31 a barrel having fallen $3.54 on the day.
S&P 500 index lost a tenth of its value and the fall came after a mandatory 15 minutes pause in trading.
UK’s FTSE 100 tumbled more than 7% and South Africa’s benchmark stock index plummeted the most on record as a burst of sell off rippled through global markets.
Declines were even more severe in continental Europe, as Germany’s Dx and France’s CAC 400 each lost around a tenth of their value. The Stoxx Europe 600 index, a barometer of the region’s largest companies plunged 10%
Oil’s spectacular collapse is deepening as widening global efforts to fifth the spread of Coronavirus looked set to trigger the most severe contraction in annual demand for oil in history
