Stocks Resume Trading After S&P Tanks 7%, Dow Keeps Tumbling

Stock trading came to a halt Monday morning shortly after the market opened and fell 7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 1,800 points while the  S&P 500 dropped 7%. That triggered a built in circuit breaker to kick in at 9:35 am. It’s expected the market will re-open 15 minutes after the halt.

The New York Stock Exchange’s circuit breakers are designed to halt trading when the market falls 7%, 13% and 20%. The break in trading is meant to give the market a chance to re-assess and keep stocks from further collapse.

The massive fall in equity prices came after OPEC negotiations fell apart. Members of the oil group including Saudi Arabia and Russia met last week to discuss output amid the drop in demand sparked by the coronavirus. Talks ended without a resolution with Saudi Arabia saying it would increase production to a record 12 million barrels a day, Bloomberg reports. That sent oil prices down 30% .

Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped below 0.5% for the first time ever.

By forbes.com/