The first U.S. trading halt during the 2020 COVID-19 stock-market crash occurred on March 9, 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.79% that day, triggering the market’s circuit breaker after the S&P 500 dropped at least 7% from its previous close. The halt lasted 15 minutes and was designed to give investors time to assess rapidly changing conditions.
The immediate trigger included the breakdown of cooperation between major oil producers, which caused oil prices to plunge, while the spreading coronavirus increased fears about business closures, disrupted supply chains, and a global recession. Three more U.S. market-wide circuit breakers were triggered on March 12, March 16, and March 18.
March 9 is sometimes called Black Monday, but that nickname has also been used for other crashes, including October 19, 1987. The 2020 event was therefore part of a broader pandemic-driven market collapse rather than a single isolated day.