Market Wrap: Oil Futures Plunge, Bitcoin Dips and Tether Has a $7B Day

Monday marked a historic moment in traditional markets, with the price of West Texas Intermediate oil futures going into negative territory for the first time ever. 

Contracts for May delivery, expiring on Tuesday, collapsed below -$40 per barrel at one point. In other words, sellers were willing to pay as much as $40 to people to take a barrel off their hands. Excess supply in the midst of a massive global downturn has led to a storage problem for crude. Some traders are even making $2 offers per barrel on the spot market. 

The breathtaking crash in oil prices was taken as a warning sign to U.S. stocks and bonds: a recovery, where demand for energy would put those stockpiled barrels to use, appears to be further in the distance than anticipated. The S&P 500 index slipped 1.7 percent while safe-haven U.S. Treasury bonds saw an influx of dollars that pushed two-year yields down to 5 percent. Bond yields fall as prices rise. 

Gold also gained on the day. On Monday, the precious metal…