Wall Street's 11-year bull market comes to a screeching halt: Stocks plummet
US stocks recorded their worst day since 1987 Thursday as worries about the coronavirus pandemic mounted.
Wall Street officially fell into a bear market with the S&P 500 dropping more than 20% from its February 19 peak. The Dow, a smaller index than the S&P, fell into a bear market Wednesday.
That officially ended the 11-year bull market -- the longest in history -- which started in March 2009.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed down 9.5%. It was its worst day since October 19, 1987, also known as “Black Monday”.
The index dropped 7% in the first minutes of trading, which triggered a circuit breaker and led the New York Stocks Exchange to suspend trading for 15 minutes.
The Dow was down 2,353 points, nearly 10% lower, in its biggest one-day percentage drop since “Black Monday." The index is at its lowest level since the summer of 2017.
The Nasdaq Composite closed down 9.4%. It is now also in a bear market.
