US STOCKS-S&P 500 tumbles as trading on Wall Street resumes

The S&P 500 index plunged over 9% on Monday as trading resumed after an initial automatic 15-minute cutout, driven by mounting fears of the damage the coronavirus is doing to the global economy. The halt at the opening was the third emergency pause in Wall Street trading in six days, and followed another series of drastic moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve over the weekend to shore up the U.S. economy.

Latest economic figures from China earlier on Monday showed factory data plunging at its sharpest pace in three decades. At 9:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2,748.64 points, or 11.85%, at 20,436.98, the S&P 500 was down 264.65 points, or 9.76%, at 2,446.37 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 922.27 points, or 11.71%, at 6,952.60.

If the S&P 500 falls 13%, it will trigger a level-2 circuit breaker and halt trading again for 15 minutes.