Stock Market Today: Live Updates and Coverage – The New York Times

Oil markets crashed and stocks plunged on Monday as a sudden clash among the world’s biggest oil producers gave already rattled investors another reason to worry about the global economy.

Financial markets have whipped around for weeks as investors struggled to quantify the economic impact of the spreading coronavirus: stocks have tumbled, oil prices cratered, and yields on government bonds reflected a sense among investors that there was worse still to come.

But over the weekend, two of the world’s major oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, added a new element to the mix by setting off a price war for crude. While low oil prices can be beneficial, they can also disrupt economies that depend heavily on petroleum dollars. The fall in oil prices since the start of the coronavirus also signals a global economic slowdown.

Oil lost nearly a quarter of its value in futures markets on Monday, dragging shares of energy companies lower. It was what one analyst called “another acute shock to markets.”

In Europe, major stock benchmarks were down more than 6 percent. Shares ended sharply lower in Asia also, and futures markets indicated Wall Street would open with a large decline.

As stocks fell, investors seeking a safe harbor pushed yields on government bonds to historic lows. The yield on the closely watched 10 year U.S. Treasury bond, which falls as the price of the bonds rise, dropped below 0.5 percent, about half the level of just a week ago.

Even before the weekend’s developments, stocks in the United States and other major financial markets had fallen by more than 10 percent in a sudden downdraft that began as the coronavirus began to spread outside of China.

The problem globally is growing worse.

On Sunday, Italy took the dramatic step of locking down a large chunk of its industrial northern region. In the United States, a top government disease expert warned that regional lockdowns there might become necessary, though he played down the idea of tight quarantines like the kind China has enacted.

Starting Monday and lasting through Thursday, the New York Fed will increase its daily offering of overnight repurchase agreements — essentially short-term loans to eligible banks — to at least $150 billion from $100 billion. It is also increasing its offering of two-week loans starting Tuesday, to at least $45 billion from at least $20 billion.

The Fed had already been active in the market for short-lived loans between banks and financial institutions — called the repurchase or “repo” market — for months. Those operations started after rates in that obscure but important corner of the financial system’s plumbing spiked in September. It had recently been shrinking the size of its injections as markets calmed.

The moves on Monday “are intended to ensure that the supply of reserves remains ample and to mitigate the risk of money market pressures,” the New York Fed said in a statement.

Shares in oil companies fell sharply Monday, reflecting the loss of billions of dollars in value, as the price of crude nose-dived.

Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, fell much as 10 percent, to 27 riyals, the maximum amount allowed on the Riyadh stock exchange.

Combined with Sunday’s 9 percent fall in share price, Aramco’s stock has fallen below its December initial public offering price of 32 riyals.

For the second consecutive day, the Kuwait stock market’s premier market index fell 10 percent early in the trading session, triggering a safety valve that suspended trading for the rest of the day.

Other oil producers were having a rough time on Monday. Royal Dutch Shell fell as much as 22 percent after trading started in Europe, but then shed about half of those losses, to about 13 percent lower in midmorning trading. Overall, Shell shares have lost about one-quarter of their value since Thursday.

Shares in BP, based in Britain, and France-based Total were lower by about the same amount.

In U.S. trading, premarket trades were driving down oil shares. Exxon Mobil was trading 10 percent lower, and Chevron was down 12 percent.

Some of the world’s most important financial markets crossed into, or flirted with, bear market territory on Monday. That could augur an ugly week for those holding the world’s wealth.

Japanese and Australian stocks finished bruising trading days down 20 percent from their recent highs — the technical definition of a bear market, the flip side of the go-go bull market that has inspired memorials to surging capitalism. The drops represent billions of dollars in losses for some of the most valuable companies in both countries.

Stocks in Germany, France and Britain plunged on Monday morning, putting all three well into bear market territory.

Bear markets are rare and are sometimes seen as a harbinger of tougher economic times to come. Some notable bear markets in the United States include the one that ushered in the global financial crisis in 2007 and the dot-com bust in 2000. (Wall Street is still some ways away from a bear market, with the S&P 500 down about 12 percent from its most recent high.)

In choppy markets like these, stocks can bounce back just as quickly as they have fallen. A bear market by itself doesn’t signal financial devastation, and some experts say the label can be more damaging than the fall itself.

On the other hand, the market is simply reflecting deeper concerns. Large corporations are already dealing with complications from a spreading coronavirus that left business operations suspended, their supply chains gummed up and restricted work travel.

Before Monday’s dramatic moves, analysts at Bank of America had estimated that some $9 trillion had vanished from global markets over the past nine days.

European leaders took steps on Monday to blunt the economic impact of Italy’s shutdown and the spreading coronavirus. But it was doubtful whether the measures would be enough to keep the eurozone from slipping into recession.

Citing the risk of an “economic crisis,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called on European countries to join forces to fight the economic effects of the epidemic.

In Germany, Angela Merkel’s governing coalition agreed late Sunday on measures to help businesses survive the shock, including expanding an existing program that encourages companies to cut the hours that employees work rather than lay people off.

The German government will also increase spending on roads and other infrastructure, and discuss with industry groups ways that the government could help businesses suffering from short-term cash shortages.

The additional infrastructure spending amounts to only 0.1 percent of German economy, however. “The German government’s package is a good step in the right direction,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief eurozone economist at ING Bank. “But it will only tackle the impact from a short-lived economic shock.”

Japan’s economic performance at the end of last year was worse that initially thought, the country’s government said Monday, as it issued new economic data sure to increase concerns about the future of the country’s economy.

Japan said its economy had shrunk at an annualized rate of 7.1 percent in the three months that ended in December, revised down from an initial estimate of 6.3 percent last month.

The contraction was largely driven by a pullback in consumer demand after an increase in Japan’s consumption tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in October, and the impact of Typhoon Hagibis, which hit the country in the same month. But Monday’s revised numbers showed that business spending, which has been a bright spot, was also worse than initial estimates.

Japan is already bracing for a serious economic hit from the coronavirus, which has put substantial pressure on the country’s tourist industry. The economic damage began this year when China, the leading source of tourists to Japan, went on virtual lockdown, with many visitors canceling travel plans.

Reporting and research were contributed by Jeanna Smialek, Alexandra Stevenson, Jack Ewing, Liz Alderman, Li Yuan, Ben Dooley, Kevin Granville and Carlos Tejada.