Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted for 15 minutes on Monday because stocks tumbled so drastically in the first few moments of trading as a result of global coronavirus panic and an oil price war sparked by Saudi Arabia.

The Dow opened on a loss of more than 1700 points on Monday, a decrease of more than seven percent since Friday’s close, after a chaotic weekend which saw oil prices tumble and which all but decimated the futures market.

Circuit breakers – which are rarely triggered but exist to stop prices tumbling further when a downward spiral shows no sign of slowing – went into effect on Monday morning after a dramatic start.

After a 15 minute break, the re-opened but it had slipped further, losing 2,000 points in total. If prices drop to 13 percent from Friday’s close, trading will stop for another 15 minutes. Then, it will take for them to drop by 20 percent to stop for another 15 minutes.

Monday’s opening marked the worst start on Wall Street since the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 which triggered the GFC.

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