Oil crash pummels stocks on Wall Street

Oil crash pummels stocks on Wall Street

Wall Street tumbled for a second straight day on Tuesday as a collapse in U.S. oil prices and glum forecasts by companies worsened fears of a deep economic downturn.

Yahaira Jacquez reports.

Stocks on Wall Street dropped on Tuesday, battered by plunging oil prices.

The Dow Jones ended the day down more than 600 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 3%.

The pain on Wall Street comes as turmoil continued to grip the oil market.

With the price for a barrel of West Texas crude due to be delivered in June falling 43%, to about $11.50.

That comes a day after the price of a barrel for May made a historic plunge, turning negative for the first time.

Though it did rebound and expired at about $10 a barrel.

Lockdowns, which have forced factories to close and people to stop traveling, have obliterated demand for oil - leaving the world with more oil than it needs and nowhere to store it.

Jeff Tomasulo is CEO of Vespula Capital: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH JEFF TOMASULO, CEO OF VESPULA CAPITAL: "The fact that people are saying, you can take this oil and I'll pay you to take it, is really a sign of how much demand has started to contract tremendously and the question as a trader and investor is when are we going to start getting back to 'normal' when people are driving cars, getting on airplanes." Meanwhile - Coca-Cola shares fell after it said it's bracing for a severe hit as lockdowns force consumers to stay away from movie theaters and other places that sell its products.

But with more people staying home - Netflix saw a big subscription spike.

The streaming giant said it added more than 15 million paid subscribers during the first quarter - well above analysts' estimates of about 8 million.