Industry Updates

‘Black Monday’ sees biggest drop across global equity markets since 2008

George Geddes

a black and white photo of a spaceship in outer space

Equity markets across the globe took a massive hit on what is being branded the latest ‘Black Monday’ following economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.

The crash came as a result of a dramatic fall in oil price as OPEC and its allies failed to agree a production cut over the weekend and demand reached a nine-year low after lack of factory activity and travel caused by the outbreak.

The S&P 500, the largest 500 stocks in the US, fell 7.6% on Monday, causing the New York Stock Exchange to trigger circuit breakers and bringing trading to a halt for 15 minutes. This was last seen in 2008 as investors panicked amid the Global Financial Crisis.

Coronavirus drives gold ETF assets to record highs in February

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 7.3% on Monday, wiping out roughly £150bn in a day.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600, ASX 200 (Australia), Nikkei 225 (Japan) and the Hang Seng (Hong Kong) fell 7.4%, 6.7%, 5.2% and 4.3%, respectively.

The early stages of Tuesday morning have seen markets beginning to rebound as all indices, excluding the US which is yet to open, were positive.

chart, line chart

S&P 500 (Black), FTSE 100 (Orange), Nikkei 225 (Blue), Hang Seng (Red), ASX 200 (Green) YTD performances – Source: Bloomberg

Nigel Green, CEO and founder of deVere Group, said: “Oil’s sharpest one-day drop since the 1991 Gulf war has further fuelled the sell-off in global stock markets that started a couple of weeks ago on fears that coronavirus is going to severely damage economic growth.

"With the combination of the implications of the oil stand-off and the outbreak, I now believe that it is almost inevitable that there will be a global recession this year.”

Featured in this article

ETFs

No ETFs to show.

RELATED ARTICLES