DOW Sheds 3500+ Points In Worst Week Since 2008

The New York Times reports:

Stocks tumbled for a seventh consecutive day on Friday, with the S&P 500 index falling about 0.8 percent, bringing its loss for the week to more than 11 percent. It was the worst weekly decline for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. In early October that year, the S&P 500 fell about 18 percent.

The sell-off was fueled mostly by worry that measures to contain the virus would hamper corporate profits and economic growth, and fears that the outbreak could get worse. The selling has in a matter of days dragged stock benchmarks around the world into a correction — a drop of 10 percent or more that is taken as a measure of extreme pessimism.

USA Today reports:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 357.28 points to close at 25,409.36, recouping some losses after briefly dropping more than 1,000 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 slid 0.8% to end at 2,954.22. The Nasdaq Composite closed virtually unchanged to finish at 8,567.37.

The fallout over the virus has shaved off more than 3,500 points from the blue-chip average this week alone, its largest ever. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 shed 12% and 11.5%, respectively, their worst weekly performance since October 2008, according to FactSet.