The largest one-day percentage drop in the Dow during the 2020 COVID-19 market crash occurred on March 16, 2020.
Investors were reacting to the rapid spread of COVID-19, emergency economic restrictions, and extraordinary uncertainty about corporate earnings and global supply chains. On March 16, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,997.10 points, or 12.93 percent, its largest one-day percentage decline since the 1987 crash.
The 2020 crash also involved a brief oil-price shock after negotiations among major producers broke down. U.S. exchanges triggered circuit breakers several times during the turbulent period. The S&P 500 entered a bear market in March, then recovered rapidly after fiscal support, monetary easing, and improving expectations about vaccines and reopening.
March 16 should not be confused with March 9, March 12, or March 18, which also brought very large falls. The market’s eventual recovery was unusually fast compared with many earlier crashes.