Dow Plunges Nearly 3,000 Points Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Wall Street had another brutal session as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2,999 points, finishing the day at 20,186. The point drop was the largest in history, while the nearly 13% drop was the largest since the 1987 Black Monday crash when the Dow shed more than 22% of its value. The S&P 500 dropped by 10.5% while the Nasdaq Composite closed 10.4% lower.

The day got off to a bad start with the Dow starting 2,250 points in the red. Trading was halted moments after the markets opened when the S&P 500 tripped a circuit breaker after dropping by 8.1%.

The markets were not swayed by the actions the Federal Reserve took on Sunday (March 15) to help calm investors' concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Those actions included an emergency rate cut to near zero percent and a new round of quantitative easing, which would inject around $700 billion into the market.

"The markets are getting no break with yesterday's historic Fed actions and COVID-19 dominating the world's headlines," Frank Cappelleri, executive director at Instinet, said in a note according to CNBC. "While the news continues to worsen and with the price action doing things we've only seen a handful of other times in the last century, it's nearly impossible to keep things in perspective."

To keep up to date on the latest news about the coronavirus and to understand what you need to stay safe and healthy, check out the Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction podcast from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

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