Dow Jones suffers its worse point drop ever

Analysts say coronavirus and potential oil war are frightening investors

NEW YORK, N.Y. (KYMA, KECY/NBC News) - Another major plunge on Wall Street as the coronavirus, as well as fears of the illness, continue to spread.

The opening selloff so drastic, trading at the New York Stock Exchange stopped for 15-minutes - an automatic safeguard to prevent a crash.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 7.8% of its value - more than 2,000 points. It was the worst day for the Dow and S&P since 2008.

Analysts say fear over what the worldwide spread of coronavirus will do to the global economy, and a growing oil production battle between Russia and Saudi Arabia is fueling the selloff.

"There's so much uncertainty, and if there's one thing the market doesn't like it's uncertainty." says Greg McBride, chief financial analysts for Bankrate.com.

U.S. Health and human services Secretary Alex Azar was the only White House official to comment on the market plunge as it was happening.

"The market obviously been very active today. President Trump delivered historically strong economy. The fundamentals in this economy are unbelievable." said Azar.

But, in a series of Tweets, the President continued to downplay the coronavirus threat. He touted galling gas prices as good for the consumer, and blamed "fake news" for the market drop.

And while things look bleak for people who have retirement account which invest in stocks, at least one analyst sees some good news.

"If you're contributing to 401k, the bright side is, every contribution that you're making now are getting better prices than you did in the first half of February." said McBride.

A ray of hope, perhaps, as investors ride out a volatile market.

President Donald Trump will meet with Wall Street executives Wednesday to discuss the state of the economy amid the coronavirus crisis.