10 Thoughts on the Stock Market's Worst Day in 33 Years

Utter carnage. That's the best way to describe the worst day on Wall Street since Black Monday (Oct. 19, 1987), which is when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) shed 508 points, equating to 22.6% of its value at the time.

When the closing bell (mercifully) rang on March 12, 2020, the 123-year-old Dow, technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) and benchmark S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) had declined by 9.99%, 9.43%, and 9.51%, respectively, which represents their fourth-, third-, and fifth-worst respective single-session percentage declines in history. I'm often quick to shrug off the fanatical terminology used by most media outlets (e.g., "plunge" or "crash") if the Dow declines by, say, 300 points, but this week, we've witnessed some true plunges in the United States' major stock indexes.

With most investors completely shell-shocked by the time frame of this move lower -- it's taken just 16 trading days to wipe almost 27% from the S&P 500 -- I figured it might be worthwhile to share some of the thoughts that crossed my mind throughout this historic session.

Source Fool.com