Trading was automatically suspended on the Dow Jones industrial index Monday after shares fell by almost 2,000 points moments after it opened (Pictures: Getty/Google)

Trading on Wall Street has been suspended as coronavirus sent the Dow Jones industrial index plummeting by 2,033 points as it opened on Monday.

The huge drop triggered an automatic ‘circuit breaker’ which suspended trading on the Dow Jones for 15 minutes in a bid to avoid further economic damage to America’s top 30 publicly listed companies.

The larger Standard and Poors (S&P) index of 500 companies also saw trading halted for 15 minutes after experiencing its own 7% drop moments after trading began. The Dow Jones has since reopened trading, with stocks 1,455 points down just before 10:45am Monday.

Donald Trump, who has previously taken credit for record stock market gains, took to Twitter afterwards claiming: ‘Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!’




He added: ‘Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!’

Monday’s initial drop from 25,864 points to 24,031 is equivalent to 7.11% of the index’s total value, and came amid similar chaos for London’s FTSE and Japan’s Nikkei indexes.

Monday’s suspension was the first since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.

The Dow Jones stock index plummeted so sharply as trading opened Monday that an automatic ‘circuit breaker’ halted trading for 15 minutes (File photo/Getty)

It came just moments after the New York-based index opened at 9:30am EST, as the number of coronavirus diagnoses rocketed past 110,000 worldwide. The sudden drop saw the phrase ‘Black Monday’ trend online.

The main stock indexes in Britain and Germany were down by almost 7%. Japan’s benchmark closed down 5.1% while Australia’s lost 7.3% and the Shanghai market in China was off 3%.

The benchmark U.S. crude price was down over 20%, the biggest daily drop since the Gulf war in 1991 to hit their lowest levels since 2016. They were down as much as 30% earlier, deepening a rout that began when Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major producers failed to agree on cutting output to prop up prices.

A breakdown in their cooperation suggested they will ramp up output just as demand is sliding.

This graphic shows how the Dow Jones industrial index plunged by more than 1,800 points moments after it opened Monday (Picture: NYSE)

Investors usually welcome lower energy costs for businesses and consumers. But it can also hurt producers, such as oil companies. The last time crude prices fell this low, in 2015, the U.S. saw a raft of bankruptcies by smaller energy companies.

The abrupt plunge in markets added to the anxiety over coronavirus, rattling markets and sending investors in search of safe havens like bonds.

‘A blend of shocks have sent the markets into a frenzy on what may only be described as ‘Black Monday”‘ said Sebastien Clements, analyst at financial payments platform OFX.

Clemens added: ‘A combination of a Russia vs. Saudi Arabia oil price war, a crash in equities, and escalations in coronavirus woes have created a killer cocktail to worsen last week’s hangover.’

In Saudi Arabia, the Riyadh stock exchange suspended trading of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco after its share price sank by the daily 10% limit at the opening.

Investors already were on edge about the mounting costs of the coronavirus outbreak that began in China and has disrupted world travel and trade.

Anxiety rose after Italy announced it was isolating cities and towns with some 16 million people, or more than one quarter of its population, in its industrial and financial heartland.



In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 tumbled 6.6% to 6,034 after opening down by more than 8%. Frankfurt’s DAX shed 6.9% to 10,743 and the CAC 40 in France lost 6.9% as well, to 4,793. Italy’s FTSE MIB plunged 10% to 18,713.

On Wall Street, trading in futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 was frozen after both fell by more than 5%, a daily limit. The last time they were frozen was just after U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.

Companies have been hit by travel and other controls that are spreading worldwide as the global number of coronavirus infections rose past 110,000 worldwide.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell to 19,698.76 after the government reported the economy contracted 7% in the October-December quarter, worse than the original estimate of a 6.3% decline. That was before the viral outbreak slammed tourism and travel but after a sales tax hike dented consumers’ appetite for spending.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 4.2% to 25,047.42. The Shanghai Composite Index declined to 2,943.29.

The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney retreated to 5,760.60. The Kospi in Seoul lost 4.2% to 1,954.77.

India’s Sensex retreated 6.2% to 35,255.73. Markets in Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asia also declined.