US stocks have opened sharply lower amid the COVID-19 pandemic as the oil market continues to be under pressure and more large companies have removed their earnings forecasts due to the uncertain economic outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.2 percent at 23,129.42 shortly after the opening bell. The broad-based S&P 500 scattered 1.8 percent to 2,773.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.2 percent to 8,457.84.
In the meantime, the Russian stock market continues to fall amid the collapse in oil prices.
At the same time, Brent oil futures for June delivery were trading down 22.76 percent at $19.75 per barrel, while June futures for WTI crude slumped 30.69 percent to $14.16 per barrel.
A day earlier, energy stocks fell 3.5 percent, led by losses in oil majors such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis continues to grow as the number of people infected with it increases from day to day. To date, the number of people who have been infected worldwide is almost 2.5 million and more than 171,000 have succumbed to the deadly virus or related health complications, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre.
