Wall Street neared bear market territory on Friday as stocks fell sharply to end the week with the Dow down more than 800 points.
The sell-off was driven by fears of a deeper recession, as data showed that manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth straight month.
The Dow is now down 20% from its peak in February, and if it falls below 19,000 it will officially enter bear market territory.
While some analysts believe that the market is overreacting to the latest data, others say that the sell-off is justified given the deteriorating economic conditions.
It remains to be seen whether the market can recover from this latest setback, but one thing is clear: Wall Street is in for a volatile ride in the weeks and months ahead.
The Dow was down more than 800 points, or 3.2%, at 24,608. The S&P 500 was down 3% at 2,754, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.8% at 7,433.
All three indexes are now down more than 20% from their all-time highs set in late September. The sell-off was driven by fears of a deeper recession as the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell below 1.6%.
The market has been deeply volatile in recent weeks on fears that the coronavirus outbreak will lead to a slowdown in global economic growth. Friday’s sell-off suggests that those fears are still very much present.
