US stock markets including Dow Jones and S&P 500 open lower as oil price slides further
US markets plunged lower as markets opened today, dragged down as the price of oil continued to slide.
The Dow Jones Industrial average fell over 200 points in morning trade, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped over one per cent.
Read more: Brexit brouhaha – Sterling slides below $1.39
"The market got overbought up until yesterday and the weakness in oil, the weakness in the yuan, the weakness in European banks is just a reminder the overarching concerns people have are still there," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group.
US crude oil prices were down more than three per cent, pushed lower by new figures showing an increase in stockpiles.
WTI crude oil was trading over three per cent lower, below $31 a barrel. Brent crude was down over 1.7 per cent.
Read more: Asian markets drop on weak Singapore growth and lower oil
That's not forgetting comments yesterday by the Iranian and Saudi oil ministers, which called into question the prospect of a production freeze.
"Dashed hopes of a Russian-OPEC joint oil production cut has sent oil prices to the lowest in a week and investors are reaching for the risk-off button," said Jasper Lawler, markets analyst at CMC Markets.
Investors will now be looking to more data, as figures on new US homes will be released later today.