Which U.S. stock-market crash followed the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak and ended the longest bull market in American history?

The 2020 stock-market crash followed the COVID-19 outbreak and ended the longest bull market in American history. The decline began after investors recognized that the virus and efforts to contain it could disrupt travel, trade, employment, and corporate earnings worldwide.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average entered a bear market on March 11, 2020, and the S&P 500 reached a bear-market threshold the following day. On March 16, the Dow fell nearly 13%, one of its worst daily percentage losses. Several U.S. exchanges activated temporary trading halts, known as circuit breakers, during the turmoil.

Governments and central banks responded with emergency interest-rate cuts, asset purchases, lending programs, and fiscal support. Markets rebounded unusually quickly after reaching a low on March 23, 2020, although the economic damage and public-health crisis continued.

This crash is sometimes described as the COVID-19 crash or the coronavirus crash. It differed from the 2008 crisis because its initial trigger was a global pandemic and sudden economic shutdowns rather than a housing-credit collapse.