The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its largest one-day point loss during the 2020 crash on March 16, 2020.
The Dow fell 2,997.10 points that day, a decline of about 12.9%. Investors were reacting to the rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic, economic shutdowns, and extraordinary uncertainty about corporate earnings and global growth.
The 2020 crash included several trading sessions with automatic circuit-breaker halts. The Federal Reserve and other central banks introduced emergency measures, while governments announced large fiscal programs. Markets later recovered rapidly from their March lows.
Point losses and percentage losses are different measures. March 16 produced the Dow’s largest point decline, but Black Monday in 1987 remained the larger one-day percentage drop. The 2020 episode also differed because its trigger was a public-health emergency rather than a single financial institution.