The Canadian Press

By Brian Konrad

Oil prices and stock markets fall to start week

COVID 19 worries making financial markets sick

Mar 9, 2020 | 8:18 AM

TORONTO – Both the Toronto and New York stock markets plunged in the first minutes of trading this morning.

A 14 hundred point fall in Toronto and a nearly 19 hundred point plunge on Wall Street triggered measures to put a temporary halt in trading on both markets.

The free fall came after overnight markets in Asia and Europe lost between 3 and 7 per cent of their market values.

Oil prices were also down to around $32 u.s. per barrel – amid worries that OPEC and Russia’s failure to agree on production limits will leave a world economy suffering from the impact of COVID 19 awash in an oversupply of crude.

The price of oil is a key component in the Alberta government’s latest budget.

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The author of that budget – finance minister Travis Toews (taves) will be in Medicine Hat today.

He’s scheduled to attend a round table discussion on his budget at noon; an event hosted by the Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce.