The S&P 500 closed at its lowest point of the 2020 COVID-19 market crash on March 23, 2020.
The index had reached a record closing high on February 19, 2020, but then plunged as the COVID-19 pandemic spread internationally. Governments imposed travel restrictions and business closures, while investors feared a severe global recession. The decline included extraordinary volatility and several U.S. trading halts triggered by market-wide circuit breakers.
By the March 23 close, the S&P 500 had fallen about 34% from its February peak. Massive fiscal support, central-bank action, and hopes for eventual control of the pandemic helped markets rebound rapidly afterward, although the economic damage continued.
March 23 was the closing low for the crash, not the date of the first fall or the date the pandemic began. The World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.