March 12, 2020, marked a global stock-market crash after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in 2020.
On March 11, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. The next trading day, March 12, saw severe selling across global markets as investors absorbed travel restrictions, lockdown risks, business closures, and the likely economic damage from the rapidly spreading disease.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,352.60 points, or 9.99 percent, on March 12. It was the index’s largest point drop at that time. Trading halts known as circuit breakers were triggered repeatedly during the wider 2020 crash, including on March 9, March 12, March 16, and March 18.
March 23 became the major low for many U.S. indexes, so it is sometimes confused with the crash’s most dramatic early date. The crisis combined a public-health emergency with an oil-price shock and extraordinary uncertainty about global economic activity.