West Texas Intermediate crude oil plunged by as much as 33.8 percent
by Jonathan Garber
Fox Business
U.S. equity markets were sharply lower Monday morning after an oil price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the new coronavirus showed signs of spreading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by as many as 2,046 points, or 7.9 percent, in the opening minutes of trading while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were lower by 7.4 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. Trading, which was already halted for 15 minutes, will see another stoppage if the S&P 500 trades down 13 percent.
The steep slide has caused the New York Federal Reserve to increase its daily cash injections into the banking system to $150 billion from $100 billion.