North American stock markets were halted shortly after opening on Monday morning as circuit breakers designed to slow down panic selling kicked in within minutes of opening. The NYSE, Nasdaq and TSX all hit what's known as a level 1 trading halt within minutes of opening on Monday morning. A level 2 halt is automatically imposed after a decline of 13 per cent, for another 15 minutes. If the decline hits 20 per cent, a level 3 halt comes in to shut down trading for the rest of the day. "This is basically panic selling," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital in New York.

Source: CBC News March 09, 2020 10:24 UTC