Stocks cratered Thursday as the escalating coronavirus pandemic and lingering questions about President Trump’s response drove the worst day of losses for Wall Street since the 1987 crash.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 2,352 points, dropping 10 percent for its steepest loss by percentage since falling 22.6 percent on Oct. 19, 1987.
The Dow’s Thursday losses also exceeded its 7.87-percent plunge on Oct. 15, 2008, which was the index’s most recent record for the steepest single-day drop by percentage.
The S&P 500 fell 9.5 percent to join the Dow in bear market territory—a 20 percent decline from a stock or index’s 52-week peak. The Nasdaq composite also dropped 9.4 percent and also joined the S&P and Nasdaq in bear market territory.