The largest single-day point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the 2020 stock-market crash was 2,997 points.
The decline occurred on March 16, 2020, when the Dow fell 2,997.10 points, or approximately 12.9%. The market was reacting to rapidly spreading COVID-19, economic shutdowns, travel restrictions, and extraordinary uncertainty about corporate earnings and global growth.
The fall came after the Dow had already entered a bear market. Trading was halted several times during the month by circuit breakers designed to slow panic selling and allow investors to assess information.
The 2020 crash is often described using both point and percentage figures. The 2,997-point loss was the largest point decline at that time, but percentage comparisons depend on the index’s starting level. March 16 was also the Dow’s third-largest percentage decline in history, behind October 19, 1987, and October 28, 1929.