U.S. stock indexes on Monday started the week sharply lower, as investors braced for a deluge in earnings this week and contended with an unraveling of the energy market, highlighted by a historic plunge into negative territory in the price of one oil contract.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 592 points, or 2.4%, at around 23,650, the S&P 500 index declined 1.8% at 2,823, while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended the session off by about 1% at 8,561, all the closing levels are on a preliminary basis.

The decline for the equity benchmarks come as the May contract for West Texas Intermediate oil the front-month contract, which expires on Tuesday, dropped more than 300% settling at negative $37.63 a barrel. About one-fifth of S&P 500 companies are set to report quarterly results this week, with investors expecting the worst earnings since the 2008 financial crisis, unsurprisingly due to closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results this year for the first-quarter are on track to decline 14.5% from a year ago, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet, which would represent the biggest decline since the 15.7% plunge in the third quarter of 2009.

Source : Marketwatch