Which 2020 market crash began as COVID-19 spread globally and caused four U.S. trading halts?

The 2020 crash triggered by the global spread of COVID-19 was the COVID-19 market crash.

From February into March 2020, investors reacted to rapidly spreading disease, travel restrictions, business closures, and uncertainty about economic activity. Major stock indexes fell at extraordinary speed. In the United States, the S&P 500 entered a bear market after reaching its February peak, and emergency policy measures followed.

The New York Stock Exchange’s market-wide circuit breakers were triggered four times in March: March 9, March 12, March 16, and March 18. These halts were designed to pause trading after exceptionally large declines and give participants time to reassess information.

The crash was unusually sharp but relatively brief compared with many historic collapses. Massive fiscal support, central-bank action, vaccine developments, and reopening expectations helped markets recover later in 2020. The health crisis and the market crash were related, but they are not identical: one concerned disease and public health, while the other concerned asset prices and financial expectations.