The S&P 500 index of US stocks fell 12 per cent on Monday, a day after an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve, as the US and other countries around the world imposed stricter curbs on public activity.
The increasingly aggressive measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and their deepening economic impact, sent global shares, oil prices and US government bond yields lower. While investors sought the safety of US Treasuries, European sovereign debt fell in price, sending yields sharply higher.
The S&P 500, the benchmark for the US equity market, lurched lower in the final minutes of trading, eclipsing the worst performance of the pandemic and marking the biggest single-day loss since the crash of October 1987. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had its worst day ever, down 12.3 per cent. The Cboe Volatility index, the market’s “fear gauge”, jumped to a record high.