The first two weeks of 2016 seems to be the worst for U.S. stocks. Plunging oil prices have driven the stocks down, the worst start ever.
Leading the downslides are the financial and energy companies as they reacted to the deepening slump in oil prices which tumbled down to just about $30 per barrel. This is by far the lowest oil prices have gone down since October 2014.
The Dow Jones industrial average also experienced the same fate closing down at 21.39 percent or 391.79 points. Other indices are getting the same hits. The values of Nasdaq Composite and Standard & Poor's 500 indices were also down by about 2 percent.
Nasdaq Composite was the bigger loser shedding 2.74 percent or 126.59 points while Standard & Poor's lost 2.16 percent or 41.56 points.
Since the start of the year, the Nasdaq has already shed off more than 10 percent, while the Dow and S&P have dropped approximately 8 percent.
The biggest loser was the technology sector which slid down 3.15 percent. Dwindling quarterly revenues of chipmaker Intel heavily influenced chip stock movements. Big oil also experienced losses with Chevron shedding off 3.7 percent or $3.13 to just about $82.34 per share. Murphy Oil was the bigger loser, shedding off 7.8 percent or $1.44, to $16.98 per share.
The lifting of sanctions in Iran fuelled the fears about worldwide oil glut despite the rally of oil prices last week. A report indicating that Iran would be able to keep its nuclear deal promises is likely to be issued by the International Atomic Energy.
Industry insiders believe that this may lead to the availability of oil shipments from Iran, which will further influence the reduction in oil prices. Iranian officials are hoping that the IAE report will be released as soon as possible.
