Wall Street faces another bloodbath as Dow drops over 2,000 points at opening bell

US stock trading was halted on Thursday morning after markets in New York dropped as much as nine percent right at the opening bell, triggering a mandatory pause. The heavy losses continues as trading resumed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost around 2,000 points or more than nine percent in the first minutes of trading. The S&P 500 fell almost 200 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 550 points, each dropping over eight percent, and triggering a 15-minute stoppage in trading at the New York Stock Exchange.

It is the second 15-minute suspension this week on Wall Street. Trading was briefly halted on Monday after the Dow fell by almost 1,900 points.

US stocks are suffering steep losses for the second day in a row. On Wednesday, the Dow entered bear-market territory, as is closed down around 6 percent. The S&P 500 was just shy of that threshold, but it finally followed suit on Thursday.

The rout in global stocks deepened after the US policy response to the worsening spread of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of all travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days. The restrictions came shortly after the World Health Organization announced that the Covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

European markets, which were already tumbling earlier in the day, extended losses after trading started in the US. Around two hours before the closing bell, British FTSE 100 was down over nine percent, while both French CAC 40 and German DAX dropped around 10 percent.

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