The Dow’s loss dragged it 20 percent below the record set last month and put the index in a bear market. The broader S&P 500 index, which professional investors watch more closely, is a single percentage point away from falling into its own bear market, which would end the longest bull market in Wall Street history. The fastest the S&P 500 has ever fallen from a record into a bear market was over 55 days in 1987. With Wall Street already on edge about the economic damage coming from the virus, stocks dived even lower Wednesday after global health officials declared the outbreak a pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1,464.94 points, or 5.9 percent, at 23,553.22, the S&P 500 fell 140.85, or by 4.9 percent, at 2,741.38 and the Nasdaq lost 392.20, or by 4.7 percent, at 7,952.05.

Source: The Standard March 12, 2020 02:26 UTC