By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P hurtled toward its lows of the day Monday as selling in oil deepened, pressuring energy stocks, and fears of the coronavirus becoming a pandemic continued to mount.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,870, or 7.23%, after failing to maintain its intraday bounce of about 860 points from session lows. The S&P 500 fell 6.84% and Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.53%.
The move back toward the lows for the major averages arrived as oil prices heaped further pressure on energy stocks, which earlier had fallen to their lowest since 2004 on worries about an oil price war.
Crude Oil WTI Futures were down 20% after cutting losses to 16% earlier in the session.
Saudi Arabia sent shockwaves throughout the market by launching a price war against fellow oil superpower Russia. Saudi Arabia slashed its April official selling prices by $6 to $8 to grab market share and pile pressure on Russia. The move came after the OPEC and Russia failed to agree to a deal to extend oil production cuts.
The ongoing spread of the coronavirus, meanwhile, has continued to dent investor sentiment, prompting a fligh -to safety.
The World Health Organization said on Monday that the threat of coronavirus pandemic seems to be "very real" now.