ADVERTISEMENT

Day After Day of Stock Pain Is Starting to Rival February's Plunge

There hasn’t been one single clear catalyst that pushed the S&P 500 down by 6 percent in four days.

Day After Day of Stock Pain Is Starting to Rival February's Plunge
Traders work in the S&P 500 options pit at Cboe Global Markets Inc. in Chicago. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- You thought February was brutal? This sell-off is deeper. And going by the speed at which losses have recently been piling up, it’s approaching the previous episode’s velocity, too.

From an intraday high of 2,800.18 last Monday, the S&P 500 Index has been in a week-long swoon that at the lowest point this morning covered 217 points. The last time it slid as much over as many sessions was in February, when 228 points were zapped from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8.

Day After Day of Stock Pain Is Starting to Rival February's Plunge

There hasn’t been one single clear catalyst that pushed the S&P 500 down by 6 percent in four days. It’s been a cocktail of concerns, everything from trade, the pace of rate hikes, a possible slowdown in economic growth and uncertainty in Europe.

“This is what a stock market correction looks like,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director at Robert W. Baird & Co. “This one is a full blown market correction, the other one wasn’t.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elena Popina in New York at epopina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, Chris Nagi, Richard Richtmyer

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.