US open: Dow Jones drops below 20,000 points, United Technologies falls most since 2001
The Dow Jones Industrials was threatening to fall below the 20,000 point mark for the first time since 2017, on the back of steep falls in shares of aerospace giants Boeing and United Technologies, amid 'market chatter' of the possible need of a bail-out for the former.
As of 1536 GMT, the Dow Industrials was down 5.91% to 19,983.27, alongside a 5.81% fall on the S&P 500 to 2,388.65, while the Nasdaq Composite was off 4.68% to 6,991.65.
Another precipitous fall in crude oil futures was also hitting markets.
Front month West Texas crude oil futures were down 17.6% at $22.92 a barrel on the ICE and quickly approaching their 2003 lows.
"Huge drops for oil prices have overshadowed the renewed fall in equity markets, and the overall tone remains firmly risk-averse," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.
"Even then, the assumption is still that the US has a lot more to come in terms of infections and deaths, something which will put a roof on any medium-term gains."
Linked to the above, oil major Conoco Phillips announced plans to reduce its capital spending budget for 2020 by 10% to $700m, in order to adjust to the steep drop in energy quotes - chiefly through a reduction in Alaskan drilling.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond was 14 basis points higher at 1.13% following a near 30 basis point jump during the previous session.
Over on the Dow, stock in Boeing and United Technologies was falling by over 20% in both cases, with shares of the latter seeing their biggest percentage point drop since 17 September 2001.
According to the US Department of Commerce, housing starts fell at a 1.5% month-on-month pace in February to reach an annualised clip of 1.624m (consensus: 1.599m).
Permits to start building, typically a closely-followed lead indicator, dropped 5.5% on the month to reach 1.464m (consensus: 1.5m).