Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2025 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Thanks to generous corporate supporters, APR is able to provide the opportunity for listeners to attend performances. Ticket giveaway entries and details can be found here.

The Dow Has Lost Nearly 14% In A Volatile Month

Trading ends for the day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20. It was the last day before the exchange switched to all-electronic trading in an effort to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images
Trading ends for the day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20. It was the last day before the exchange switched to all-electronic trading in an effort to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Updated at 4:07 p.m. ET

The stock market has never seen a month like March. The Dow notched losses and gains of 1,000 points to as many as 3,000 points in a day in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic toll.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has recovered from recent lows, but it's still down nearly 14% this month.

And the blue chip index is 26% below its recent peak in February. At its low on March 23, it was down a staggering 38% from the record high.

On Tuesday, the Dow closed down 410 points, or 1.8%. The S&P 500 fell about 1.6%, and the Nasdaq inched down about 1%.

The stock market has whipsawed throughout the month, making unheard-of moves in just a matter of hours and days. The volatility triggered several automatic, temporary trading halts on the the New York Stock Exchange.

On March 16, the Dow lost a staggering 2,997 points — the most for a single day. That 13% drop was the steepest since the Black Monday crash of October 1987.

But the market saw dramatic ups, too.

The Dow soared 2,112 points March 24, breaking a single-day record that had been set just 11 days earlier on Friday the 13th. The index gained nearly 11.4% on March 24 — the most since 1933.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.