April 21 (UPI) — After shedding nearly 600 points Monday, U.S. stocks opened on Wall Street with more losses in early trading Tuesday — partly due to sinking oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped almost another 600 points by 11:30 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 was own about 80 points and the Nasdaq was down more than 300.
The losses follow a historic decline of oil prices on Monday.
For May delivery, West Texas Intermediate — which traded below $0 on Monday for the first time in history — rebounded slightly Tuesday but was trading at less than $5. For June delivery, which experts view as a better indicator of how Wall Street views oil prices, WTI fell 30 percent to just under $14 per barrel Tuesday.
Brent crude dropped below $20 per barrel on Tuesday, at one point settling at about $18 per barrel, its lowest price since late 2001.
Dramatic cutbacks in demand, driven by the coronavirus and a weeks-long dispute between Russia and OPEC nations, have propelled the historic oil selloff. OPEC and Russia eventually agreed to cut production by 10 million barrels per day in May.
