The main stock indexes in London and Frankfurt dropped by more 8% at the opening. Tokyo closed down 5.1% while Sydney lost 7.3% and Shanghai was off 3%.
In Saudi Arabia, the Riyadh stock exchange suspended trading of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco after its share price sank by the daily 10% limit at the opening. In early trading, London's FTSE 100 tumbled 8.6% to 5,910.87 and Frankfurt's DAX shed 8% to 10,616.42. The CAC 40 in France lost 2.7% to 5,001.53.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell to 19,698.76 after the government reported the economy contracted 7% in the October-December quarter, worse than the original estimate of a 6.3% decline. That was before the viral outbreak slammed tourism and travel but after a sales tax hike dented consumers' appetite for spending.The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney retreated to 5,760.60. The Kospi in Seoul lost 4.2% to 1,954.77.
Apple Inc. says slowdowns in manufacturing iPhones in China will hurt its sales totals. An airline industry group says carriers could lose as much as $113 billion in potential ticket sales. Investors are looking ahead to a meeting Thursday of the European Central Bank, which is widely expected to announce new stimulus measures.
Todays mission, count how many times CTV News post about Oil prices and stock prices sinking. 1