US STOCKS-Wall Street whacked by oil crash, virus fears

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* Emergency cutouts halt trading after opening
* Losses across the board deepen coronavirus sell-off
* Energy stocks plummet as oil slumps 20%
* Indexes down: Dow 5.69%, S&P 5.49%, Nasdaq 5.09%

(Adds details, updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Sanjana Shivdas
March 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes
plummeted and the Dow Jones Industrials crashed 2,000 points on
Monday as a 20% slump in oil prices and the rapid spread of the
coronavirus amplified fears of a global recession.
Trading was halted immediately after the opening, as the
benchmark S&P 500 .SPX tumbled 7% to its lowest since June
2019, triggering an automatic 15-minute cutout originally put in
place to avoid a repeat of the "Black Monday" crash in 1987,
when the Dow slumped nearly 23%.
The energy .SPNY index plunged 17.3% to its lowest level
since August 2004 and crude prices were on track for their worst
day in three decades as Saudi Arabia and Russia moved to
significantly ramp up production after the collapse of a supply
cut agreement. O/R
"The lower it does go, the more people are likely to panic
even further," said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane
Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
"Given the circuit breaker program, it's likely that selling
won't continue at this pace throughout the day, but the
psychology of things is very much a herd mentality."
Companies listed on the S&P 500 have now lost more than $5
trillion in value in a sell-off sparked by fears that the
coronavirus epidemic could end the longest U.S. economic
expansion on record.
After scaling record highs as recently as three weeks ago,
the S&P 500 is now only about 2.5% away from moving into bear
market territory, in one of the most dramatic turnarounds in
living memory.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX , halted for the first half
hour after opening, jumped to its highest level since the 2008
crisis, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was on track for its
biggest one-day percentage fall since 2011.
Declines on the blue-chip Dow were led by oil majors Chevron
Corp CVX.N and Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N , which fell more than
7%.
At 11:23 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 1,472.88 points, or 5.69%, at 24,391.90, while the S&P
500 .SPX was down 163.11 points, or 5.49%, at 2,809.26. The
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 436.28 points, or 5.09%, at
8,139.34.
Underlining the broad-based tumble, decliners outnumbered
advancers for nearly 20-to-1 on the NYSE and the Nasdaq. The S&P
index recorded 214 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 892 new
lows.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR
was on course for its biggest one-day fall in almost a decade,
sending the rate-sensitive financials index .SPSY down 7.9%
US/
Traders now expect U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers to cut
interest rates for the second time this month when they meet
next week.

(Writing by Sagarika Jaisinghani; Editing by Saumyadeb
Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila)