Trading on stock exchanges in the United States resumed on Monday after a 15 minute halt after Wall Street's main indexes dropped 7%.

The S&P 500, an index that measures stock performance of 500 large companies listed on US stock exchanges, fell 7% shortly after the opening bell, triggering the automatic 15 minute stoppage. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also dropped 2,000 points before the cutout.

The automatic halt was put in place after the financial crisis in 2008-9 after the subprime mortgage bubble in the US burst.

S&P, Dow Jones Industrial and the NASDAQ composite were all down at least 6% when trading resumed. Oil prices are down 20% and bond yields have sunk to new lows.

Global stock markets and oil prices plunged on Monday when Saudi Arabia, Russia and other crude oil producers failed to agree on cutting output. Investors are already on edge due to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak.

Benchmark indexes in Britain and Germany were down 7%, while Japan's (5.1%), Australia's (7.3%) and the Shanghai market in China (3%) all closed at significant losses.

dv/uhe (AP, Reuters)

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