NYSE Suspends Trading For 15 Mins As S&P 500 Trades 7% Lower

Today’s trading session in New York had to be halted for 15 mins after a 7% decline in the S&P 500 from the prior day’s close triggered a “level one breach”, which assumes that the trading session is halted for 15 minutes under these circumstances.

Fundamental analysis: Panic selling

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) halted trading for 15 mins after the S&P 500 hit a 7% decline in the first minutes of the trading session. Markets are in turmoil after disagreements between Saudi Arabia and Russia triggered a crash in oil prices.

Crude oil prices hit a 4-year low this morning after printing levels below $28.

According to NYSE rules and regulations, market trading can be halted for 15 mins if the S&P 500 drops 7%. A level 2 is breached if the S&P 500 declines 13%, which assumes another pause of 15 mins. Finally, trading is done for the day if the S&P 500 declines 20%.

Elsewhere in the market, NASDAQ is down 5.3%, Dow Jones 5.6%, while two major European stock indexes - Germany’s DAX and UK’s FTSE 100 - are both down 6.6%.

Technical analysis: Catching a falling knife

As seen in the chart below, the U.S. benchmark index S&P 500 has moved almost vertically lower in the past couple of weeks. Compared to its all-time high of $3,393, printed on February 19, the index is down 17% compared to the current market price.

Although the S&P 500 has recovered a portion of its morning losses, there is a clear risk to the downside. The intra-day support is located at $2,730, just below today’s low.

On the upside, the price action would have to get back above the 200-DMA at $3,050 before we start talking about a more meaningful rebound.

Summary

The stock market trades sharply lower today on the back of the coronavirus outbreak fears and the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The trading of the S&P 500 had to be halted for 15 minutes earlier today after the index fell 7%.