Trading stopped for 15 minutes on the New York Stock Exchange after the S & P500 index fell in the opening session by 7%, the lowest level since June 2019.
This stopping came with the aim of giving a truce in anticipation of sudden large-scale selling, and after this stopping the markets were reopened.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 7.3% in the opening session as well, while the Nasdaq fell by 6.9%.
Declines continued after the markets reopened, before losing some of their losses.
If the S&P 500 falls by 13%, the markets will stop again, but if they fall by more than 20%, the markets will stop trading today.
Markets have been falling sharply in recent weeks from record levels, in part due to concerns about the new Corona virus.
The region's markets are in red
Gulf stock markets fell today, Monday, to continue losses after its sharp decline in the previous session, amid low oil prices after Saudi Arabia decided to reduce its official prices for selling crude for next April and plans to increase production strongly in the same month.
The Saudi move that followed Russia’s refusal to support a greater reduction in oil production to counter the outbreak of the Corona virus caused Brent futures to drop 22% to $ 37.05 a barrel by 10:00 am UTC.
The Saudi index closed down 7.8%, to decline for the fourth consecutive session, and its losses since the beginning of the year amounted to 24.7%, and Aramco shares fell 5.5% to 28.35 riyals ($ 7.55).
The Qatar stock market index fell 9.7%, incurring the largest loss in one day in twenty years.
The Dubai index fell 8.3%, the largest drop since April 2013, and the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange index fell 8.1%, to incur the largest loss in one day since November 2009.
Kuwait's first market index fell 10%, which led to the suspension of trading for the remainder of the session.
In Bahrain, the index lost 5.8%, in the Sultanate of Oman it lost 5.6%, and the Egyptian index fell 7.3%.