Global stocks tumble as oil crashes
By Clare Duffy and Laura He, CNN Business
(CNN) -- Global stocks are collapsing Monday as the novel coronavirus outbreak and an oil crash rattle investors.
S&P 500 futures plunged as much as 5% Sunday evening, triggering a limit that prevents futures from trading below that mark. Dow futures fell more than 1,000 points, or about 4.2%. Nasdaq Composite futures were down 4.5%.
The sell-off carried over into Asia Pacific, where Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 5.9% on Monday, putting the index on pace for its biggest plunge since October 2008. Japan's Nikkei 225 sank nearly 5% and was last below 20,000 points, heading for its lowest close in more than a year.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost more than 4% after markets opened, setting the index up for its biggest decline in more than two years. South Korea's Kospi and China's Shanghai Composite fell 3% and 2%, respectively.
Safe haven assets soared. The Japanese yen surged against the US dollar to its strongest level in more than three years, while gold is trading above $1,700 per ounce and hitting its highest levels since 2012.
The 10-year Treasury yield, meanwhile, fell to a record low Sunday evening — below 0.5%. The yield was last slightly above that mark.
Wall Street has faced heavy losses for the past several weeks due to fears surrounding the coronavirus. During the last week of February, US stocks had their worst week since the financial crisis, and the economic disruption caused by the virusdoesn't appearto be letting up.
The scale of the coronavirus outbreak spread rapidly in the United States last week. At least 33 states now have cases of the virus, and many major US companies have begun encouraging or allowing employees to work from home.
Stock futures may have also taken a hit Sunday from a conflict over oil prices and supply that broke out at an OPEC meeting Friday. Oil prices suffered an historic collapse after Saudi Arabia shocked the market by launching a price war against onetime ally Russia. US oil prices crashed as much as 27% to a four-year low of $30 a barrel as traders brace for Saudi Arabia to flood the market with crude in a bid to recapture market share.
Global markets have also been battered in recent days. About $9 trillion was wiped off global stocks in nine days, Bank of America said in a research note after US markets closed deep in the red again on Thursday.
- CNN Business' Matt Egan contributed to this report
