By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Stock markets around the world plummeted Friday and oil prices plunged to their lowest in more than a year. Even gold, the traditional safe haven in times of panic, fell sharply.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 480 points, or 5 percent, in opening trading. Before the open of New York trading, Dow futures had dropped 550 points, triggering a temporary trading halt in stock futures contracts in an effort to slow the decline.
If the Dow drops 1,100 points before 2 p.m. the New York Stock Exchange would be forced to use "circuit breakers" that could lead to temporarily shutting the market down, something it hasn't done since 1997.
Oil fell sharply and traded below $64 a barrel amid weakening global demand for crude - despite a decision by the OPEC cartel to cut production quotas by 1.5 million barrels a day from next month.
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