New York: Oil prices have plunged below zero, the latest never-before-seen number to come out of the economic coma caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 down 1.8 per cent, but the market’s most dramatic action by far was in oil, where the cost to have a barrel of US crude delivered in May plummeted to minus $US37.63 ($59.37). It was at roughly $US60 at the start of the year.

Traders are still paying $US20.43 for a barrel of US oil to be delivered in June, which analysts consider to be closer to the "true" price of oil. Crude to be delivered next month, meanwhile, is running up against a stark problem: traders are running out of places to keep it, with storage tanks close to full amid a collapse in demand as factories, automobiles and airplanes sit idled around the world.

Tanks at a key energy hub in Oklahoma could hit their limits within three weeks, according to Chris Midgley, head of analytics at S&P Global Platts. Because of that, traders are willing to pay others to take that oil for delivery in May off their hands, so long as they also take the burden of figuring out where to keep it.