After brief trading halt, US stocks join global rout

NEW YORK — Wall Street stocks were decisively lower at mid-morning on Monday as mounting worries and sinking oil prices led to a temporary halt in trading. 

The suspension was triggered after the S&P 500’s losses hit 7 per cent, with trading resuming after 15 minutes.

About an hour into trading, the broad-based S&P 500 was down 5.4 per cent at 2,812.42.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 5.4 per cent, or 1,400 points, to 24,463.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.2 per cent to 8,133.67.

After two difficult weeks, markets appeared to enter a new phase of worry on Monday after oil producers failed to reach an agreement on a pact to limit output.

In another sign of anxiety, yields on US Treasuries again plummeted to fresh all-time lows as demand surged for refuge assets such as bonds.

US President Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting “Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!” and blaming the market turmoil on a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia.