It was a sea of red as world markets were torn apart on Monday as the fallout from the spreading coronavirus continues, while a row over oil production added to the woes.

The EURUSD was one of the positives in an otherwise disastrous day for markets. The pair opened the week at $1.13457 and slipped to a low of $1.13330 in the opening hour of trade. The euro quickly raced to a high of $1.14945, thanks in part to a lack of liquidity in the market when US indices were placed in a trading halt. The pair ebbed and flowed for most of the session but has fallen away from those highs and is now trading at $1.13820. The GBPUSD looked set for a big day, but any significant gains were short-lived. The pair started the week at $1.30748 and slid to a low of $1.30327 mid-session. Within an hour however, the pound rocketed to highs of $1.31995. The rest of the day saw the pound give up most of those gains and is not far of yesterday’s lows, currently trading at $1.30502.

The Dow was hapless as it was annihilated on Monday. The index opened the week at 25,241.60, which was 550 points lower than Friday’s close, and began selling-off from the open. The losses were so steep that it trading was halted for 15 minutes early in the day when the Dow hit 24,545.79. It opened again and remained steady for a short period of time before closing again as the Dow hit 24,545 once again. When the Dow eventually re-opened, it opened again but this time at a low of 23,575.16. It then rallied over 1,000 points to hit 24,681.97. However, those gains were given up as it closed at 23,773.96, ending a day where the Dow lost 2,000 points. In early Tuesday trading, the Dow fell as far as 23,446.52 before rallying on the back of talk of government stimulus. It is now trading at 24,503.50. The Dax was hammered overnight, opening the week around 500 points lower at 11,037.72. It was basically all down from there as the German index tumbled to close at a low of 10,349.18. It has opened higher on Tuesday and is now trading at 10,860.99.

Oil was belted on Monday as Russia refused to cut production of the precious commodity, leading to a glut of supply. Oil closed Friday at 41.564 and opened Monday at 32.782 and quickly fell to lows of 27.302 in what amounted to a 30% loss, its worst single-day loss since 1991. It has rebounded from those lows and is now trading at 32.797.

The day ahead is set to be dominated by talk surrounding government stimulus and how these countries prop up their economies. The health crisis caused by the coronavirus as quickly causing financial turmoil.

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