North American stock markets sold off sharply again on Thursday as investors reacted to a slew of negative stories related to the coronavirus outbreak.
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North American stock markets sold off sharply again on Thursday as investors reacted to a slew of negative stories related to the coronavirus outbreak.
The TSX and Dow Jones were hit by so much selling that rules known as “circuit breakers” were automatically implemented, halting trading for 15 minutes to give the stock market a breather.
The TSX and Dow were both off more than seven per cent within moments of opening, triggering what’s known as a level one trading halt.
LEVEL 1 MARKET-WIDE CIRCUIT BREAKERS TRIGGERED: At the instruction of IIROC, TSX, TSXV and TSX Alpha have been halted due to the triggering of a level 1 market-wide circuit breaker. Markets are now in Pre-Open state and are set to resume trading at 09:51:00.
When the halt was lifted 15 minutes later, the selling intensified. At its lowest point, the TSX was down as much as 11 per cent. The Dow was down by more than 2,100 points, or more than nine per cent, at o