(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main stock indexes plummeted about 5% on Monday, as a slump in oil prices and the rapid spread of the coronavirus amplified fears of a global recession on the anniversary of the U.S. stock market’s longest bull run.
The S&P 500 .SPX was set for its biggest one-day percentage fall since Aug. 8, 2011, when ratings agency S&P downgraded U.S. sovereign debt. The Dow Jones Industrials .DJI briefly lost more than 2,000 points as investors fled to safe-haven assets like bonds and the Japanese yen.
The energy .SPNY index plunged 18.2% to its lowest level since August 2004 and crude prices were on track for their worst day in three decades as Saudi Arabia and Russia moved to significantly ramp up production after the collapse of a supply cut agreement. [O/R]
Companies listed on the S&P 500 have now lost more than $5 trillion in value in a sell-off sparked by fears that the coronavirus epidemic could tip the global economy into recession.
“There is potential that we could be at the start of a financial crisis part two,” said Dennis Dick, head of markets structure, proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas.