The world's major stock markets have continued to fall sharply today (Monday) despite a co-ordinated effort to reassure investors by central banks.
Early trading saw the FTSE 100 drop more than 7%, along with Germany's Dax index, with France's Cac 40 falling as far as 9%.
Central banks in the UK, US, Canda, Japan and the eurozone have all announced cuts to interest rates and huge stimulus packages to encourage borrowing and investment. On Sunday the US Federal Reserve cut rates to nearly zero and created a $700 billion injection.
It failed to improve the situation, with investors concerned that central banks have few other options left to attempt to boost the economy as the impact of Coronavirus continues to take hold.
Asian markets closed on Monday with shallower declines than in Europe, but still reported falls nonetheless. The Japanese Nikkei 225 dropped 2.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index saw prices drop 4%, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 3.3%.
The biggest fall, however, was seen in Australia, where its main stock market tumbled 9.7% - the biggest percentage fall in a single day.
Speaking to the BBC, Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at Slatestone Wealth, said: "They pulled out whatever weapons they had and my sense is I think it may help initially but I don't think it goes much further because this is still a developing issue. They used up basically all their ammunition and we're down to sticks and stones."
