Move FM Global News

NEW YORK, New York – It was another Black Monday on the first trading day of the week on Monday, as markets literally had their worst one-day trading result since the Black Monday crash of October 1987.

The Dow Jones finished the day down nearly 3,000 points as the world economy faces its biggest financial crisis in decades.

“It’s a market adrift with nothing to hold on to. There’s nothing that can really give us a sense of when the full extent of the virus’ impact will be known,” Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab told the Reuters Thomson news agency Monday.

At the close of trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2,997.10 points, or 12.93%, to 20,188.52.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 dived 324.89 points, or 11.98%, to 2,386.13. The real estate sector was the worst-hit, falling 16.5%, a sure indicator a property crash is on the way.

The Nasdaq Composite shed 970.28 points, or 12.32%, to 6,904.59.

A shock move by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Sunday to slash official interest rates by 1%, from a range of 1%-1.25%, to .25%-zero, did little to allay investors fears, more likely it added to the panic.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Covid-19 crisis had increased risks to the U.S. economic outlook.

“My colleagues and I took this action to help the U.S. economy keep strong in the face of new risks to the economic outlook,” he told a press conference in Washington on Monday. “The spread of the coronavirus has brought new challenges and risks.”

The U.S. dollar was slightly firmer after being sold off in Asia. The euro traded at 1.1179 around the New York close Monday.

The British pound dipped to 1.2266. The Japanese yen however strengthened to 105.90.

The Swiss franc inched down to 0.9461.

The Canadian dollar buckled to 1.4004 after Prime Minister Trudeau announced Canada would close its borders to the world, except for the U.S.

The Australian dollar tumbled to a 12-year low of 0.6097.

The New Zealand dollar sank to 0.6039.

Overseas share markets crumbled, but not to the same extent as in the U.S. (other than for the Australian market which dropped nearly 10%).

The FTSE 100 in London lost 4.0% Monday. The German Dax dropped 5.31%. The Paris-based CAC 40 lost 5.75%.

On Asian markets, the Australian All Ordinaries shed 532.50 points or 9.52% to close at 5,058.20.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 had a volatile day, see-sawing from major losses to minor, and then back to major. At the close the key index was down 429.01 points or 2.46% at 17,002.04.

China’s Shanghai Composite dived 98.17 points or 3.40% to 2,789.25.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 969.34 points or 4.03% to 23,063.57.