U.S. futures slipped more than 3% on Monday and share benchmarks in many world markets logged sharp losses as governments tightened restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic, AP reported.
Stocksfell in Paris, Frankfurt and London after a brutal session in Asia on Monday.
Japan'sNikkei 225 index was the outlier, gaining 2.0% after the International OlympicCommittee and Japanese officials indicated they are considering postponing theTokyo Games, due to begin in July.
India'sSensex plummeted 11.3% after a sharp drop on the open triggered a circuitbreaker halt to trading. Singapore's benchmark plunged 7.8% after thecity-state announced a sharp increase in confirmed infections and its first twodeaths.
Sharesalso fell nearly 8% in Bangkok.
By4:45 a.m. EST, the S&P 500 future contract was down 3.4% at 2,209.70. Thefuture for the Dow dropped 3.6% to 18,351.00.
Germany'sDAX lost 3.8% to 8,580.56 and Britain's FTSE 100 tumbled 4.1% to 4,976.54. InParis, the CAC 40 shed 2.8% to 3,935.15.
Sydney'sS&P/ASX 200 fell 5.6% to 4,546.00 after plunging more than 8% sharply justafter the open. Australia announced a 66.4 billion Australian dollar ($38.5billion) stimulus package on Sunday. That's in addition to an earlier mandated$10 billion package and other stimulus from the central bank.
SouthKorea's Kospi lost 5.3% to 1,482.46. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 4.9%, to21,696.13, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 3.1% to 2,660.17.
TheNikkei was at 16,887.78.
Sharesalso fell in Southeast Asia.
Shutdownsmean less demand for oil. U.S. crude has dropped about 21%, dipping below $20 abarrel last week for the first time since February 2002. However, on Mondaybenchmark crude was up 8 cents at $22.71 per barrel in electronic trading onthe New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brentcrude, the international standard, dropped 99 cents to $25.99 per barrel.
Meanwhile,demand for the U.S. dollar has been soaring. The dollar was at 110.10 Japaneseyen on Monday, down from 110.83 yen late Friday.
Theeuro fell to $1.0651 from $1.0697.
