The escalating new coronavirus global pandemic sent the stock market Thursday into its worst slide since the Black Monday crash of 1987, extending a sell-off that has now wiped out most of Wall Street’s big gains since President Donald Trump took office. The S&P 500 plummeted by 9.5 percent, for a total drop of 26.7 percent from its all-time high, set just last month. That puts it way over the 20 percent threshold for a bear market, officially ending Wall Street’s unprecedented bull-market run of nearly 11 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 2,352 ponts, or 10 percent, its heaviest loss since its nearly 23 percent drop on October 19, 1987. It’s now hit Main Street to a more significant degree,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab.-AP

Source: The Standard March 13, 2020 01:07 UTC