Dow tumbles into bear market

Stocks tumbled again Wednesday as fears about the economic damage from the coronavirus intensified and investors questioned whether any economic response from Washington would be enough — if it happens at all.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 20% below the record set last month and putting it in a bear market. The broader S&P 500 index, which professional investors watch more closely, is a single percentage point away from falling into its own bear market, which would end one of the longest bull markets in Wall Street history, one that began more than a decade ago.

The decline has been one of the swiftest sell-offs of this magnitude. The fastest the S&P 500 has ever fallen from a record into a bear market was over 55 days in 1987.

Vicious swings like Wednesday’s session are becoming routine as investors rush to sell amid uncertainty about how badly the outbreak will hit the economy. The day’s loss wiped out a 1,167-point gain for the Dow from Tuesday and stands as the index’s second-largest point drop, trailing only Monday’s plunge of 2,013.

With Wall Street already on edge about economic damage from the outbreak, stocks dove even lower after global health officials declared it a pandemic.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1,464.94 points, or 5.9%, to 23,553.22. The S&P 500 fell 140.85, or 4.9%, to 2,741.38 and the Nasdaq lost 392.20, or 4.7%, to 7,952.05.

Investors are calling for coordinated action from governments and central banks around the world to stem the threat to the economy from the virus.

The Bank of England became the latest big central bank on Wednesday to make an emergency interest rate cut in hopes of blunting the economic pain caused by the virus, which economists call the global economy’s biggest threat.

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