March 16, 2020, marks the 2020 COVID-19 stock-market crash’s major one-day Dow Jones Industrial Average decline of 2,997 points.
The Dow fell about 12.9% that day as investors reacted to the rapid spread of COVID-19, travel restrictions, business shutdowns, and fears of a deep global recession. The percentage decline was the third-largest in the Dow’s history at that time, behind October 19, 1987, and March 16, 2020’s own unusually severe conditions in broader context.
The crash included several sessions that triggered circuit breakers, which temporarily halted U.S. trading after sharp falls. Central banks and governments introduced emergency measures, including interest-rate cuts, lending programs, fiscal support, and public-health interventions.
March 16 should not be confused with March 9 or March 12, which also brought exceptional losses. Nor was it the eventual market low: the Dow reached its 2020 closing low on March 23 before recovering strongly later in the year.