Coronavirus: Economic Fallout Intensifies with Crashing Oil Prices | DW News

The economic consequences of the coronavirus epidemic have sparked a conflict among major oil-producing nations. Last week, oil producers were unable to agree on a reduction in production volumes, resulting in a price war between OPEC and Russia. That has sent oil prices plummeting. The price of oil collapsed by 31.5 percent at the start of trading, the lowest price since January 1991.

As a reaction, stock markets fell sharply this Monday: In Tokyo, the Nikkei Index lost more than 5 percent, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell almost 4 percent. Australia's ASX Index fell particularly hard with a minus of 7.3 percent and in Germany, the DAX tumbled almost 8 percent at the start of trading. The picture around the Gulf is even more dramatic - markets have shed up to around 10% there.