The S&P 500’s lowest closing value during the 2020 COVID-19 market crash was 2,237.40, recorded on March 23, 2020.
The index had reached a record closing high of 3,386.15 on February 19, 2020. As the coronavirus spread internationally and governments imposed restrictions to slow transmission, investors rapidly repriced expectations for corporate earnings and economic activity. The S&P 500 entered a bear market in March, and its fall from the February record to the March low was roughly 34% on a closing basis.
The March 23 low was a closing level, not the lowest intraday quotation. Markets then rebounded quickly after extraordinary monetary and fiscal support, including Federal Reserve programs and major government relief measures. The crash is sometimes conflated with the entire pandemic recession, but the sharp equity sell-off and the later economic downturn were related events with different timelines.