New York - Wall Street looks set to continue to be plagued by the coronavirus when the markets open this morning.
Dow futures have fallen over 1,200 points in pre-market trading. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also down over four-percent. This follows another volatile week of trading that saw all three indexes close down on Friday despite a strong jobs report.
Coronavirus isn't the only thing expected to shake the markets Monday. Today could be the worst day for oil prices since 1991.
Oil prices are crashing as Saudi Arabia started a price war against Russia Sunday. U.S. oil prices are down 27-percent to a four-year-low of $30/ barrel while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 22-percent to 35/ barrel. It comes after Russia refused to join OPEC's attempts to cut production in response to an oil market suffering amid the global coronavirus outbreak, which led to a 10-percent drop in prices Friday.
Analysts say Russia is targeting U.S. shale oil producers, which have been dependent on higher prices. Fighting for a bigger market share from Russia, Saudi Arabia further increased production and slashed prices by six-to-eight-dollars a barrel.
As for the silver lining, expect low gas prices to continue. AAA reports the average cost for a gallon of regular gas is $2.57. That's down four cents from last week and is five cents lower than this time a month ago. The state average is $2.56, while nationally it's $2.38