Which 2020 global stock-market crash followed the spread of COVID-19 and ended the longest U.S. bull market?

The 2020 global stock-market crash followed the spread of COVID-19 and ended the longest U.S. bull market.

As the coronavirus spread internationally in February and March 2020, investors rapidly repriced expectations for travel, manufacturing, employment, and corporate earnings. Stock markets around the world fell at extraordinary speed. The S&P 500 entered a bear market on March 12, 2020, and reached its low on March 23.

The U.S. bull market that ended in March 2020 had begun in March 2009, making it the longest in S&P 500 history by then. Market volatility triggered four U.S. trading halts, known as circuit breakers, between March 9 and March 16.

Central banks cut interest rates or expanded asset purchases, while governments introduced large fiscal-support programs. Markets recovered sharply after the March low, even as the pandemic recession caused severe economic disruption. The crash is therefore a market episode within the wider COVID-19 recession, not a synonym for the entire pandemic economy.