The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the global stock-market crash of 2020.
As the virus spread internationally in early 2020, governments introduced travel restrictions, business closures, and other measures that sharply reduced expected economic activity. Investors also reacted to uncertainty about corporate earnings, supply chains, energy demand, and the effectiveness of public-health responses.
In the United States, market-wide circuit breakers were triggered four times in March: on 9, 12, 16, and 18 March 2020. The S&P 500 entered a bear market after falling at least 20% from its February record close. Central banks and governments then announced substantial monetary and fiscal support.
The crash was unusually fast, but the subsequent market recovery was also rapid in many major indexes. The market shock and the broader economic recession were related but not identical: financial prices recovered before many workers and businesses had fully recovered from the pandemic’s disruption.