Oil opened down 6% this morning, and has continued to slide. We are currently off ~7.9% at time of writing (10:30am)
Crude oil (both Brent & WTI) have shed almost 50% of their price since the beginning of 2020. Currently, on refined products we are looking at ULSD -.0872 & RBOB -.1907 (@ 10:30am)
In addition to the Saudi/OPEC price war, we now have yet another factor weighing on oil prices, which is the 30 day travel ban President Trump has imposed on European countries in an attempt to contain the Coronavirus.
The announcement sent stock markets crashing this morning (even worse than yesterday, when the DJIA entered bear territory).The so called "circuit breaker" kicked in to halt trading at 9:35am for 15 minutes.
The markets are now down ~8% - if they hit 13% another trading halt will kick in.
The stocks being hit particularly hard are Cruise lines, airlines, etc - in other words, basically the stock market is setting demand expectations for major transportation companies extremely low - which means demand for oil products overall are an increasing concern.
Obviously, this is developing as we are about 12 hours out from the original announcement, and the markets are open in full swing. You can follow developments here: Business Insider
(For specific live updates on the stock market itself versus meta analysis, go here: Stock Market Live )
