Wall Street's downward spiral continued on Monday (March 9) as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,021 points. The day started off on the wrong foot, with the Dow down 1,800 points. Trading was halted for around 15 minutes after the massive drop triggered one of the market's "circuit breakers." It didn't get any better as the Dow finished the day down 7.81%, closing at 23,843.51.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq didn't fare any better, as they were down 6.23% and 5.84%, respectively.
While the markets continue to be spooked by the coronavirus outbreak, Monday's sell-off was caused by a massive drop in the price of crude oil. After OPEC failed to strike a deal on reducing output amid a lower demand for oil, Russia and Saudi Arabia suggested that they would ramp up production at the end of the month.
Energy companies took the biggest hit with Exxon Mobil, BP, and Haliburton, all finishing the day in the red.
Many investors are expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to 0%, a number not seen since the financial crisis. The Fed is scheduled to meet on March 17-18 in Washington, D.C., though it is possible they will act sooner if the economy continues to struggle.
"We've basically lost all our anchors," Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz, told CNBC. "We lost the economic anchor with the coronavirus. We've lost the policy anchor with people losing confidence in the Fed's ability to turn things around. And over the weekend, we lost a market anchor with OPEC."
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