What event is widely identified as the trigger for the global stock-market crash of March 2020?

The COVID-19 pandemic is widely identified as the trigger for the global stock-market crash of March 2020.

As the coronavirus spread internationally, governments imposed travel restrictions, business closures, and lockdowns. Investors rapidly revised expectations for corporate earnings, employment, energy demand, and economic growth. Major indexes fell into bear-market territory at exceptional speed.

The shock was intensified by an oil-price dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which caused crude prices to plunge in early March. Financial markets also experienced severe liquidity stress. On March 9, 12, 16, and 18, U.S. exchanges activated market-wide circuit breakers as prices fell sharply.

Central banks and governments responded with interest-rate cuts, asset purchases, emergency lending, and large fiscal-support programs. Markets later rebounded, although the pandemic caused a major real-economy recession and continued volatility. The crash is sometimes called the Coronavirus Crash.