Market Extra: The Dow is in a bear market: here’s where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq would have to close to join it

William Watts

2-3 minutes - Source: marketWatch

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply Wednesday, ending more than 20% below its all-time closing high from last month and meeting the widely used definition of a bear market. The S&P 500 index and Nasdaq narrowly avoided the same fate.
The Dow DJIA, -5.85% tumbled 1,464.94 points, or 5.9%, to close at 23,553.22, leaving it 20.3% below its record close of 29,551.42 set on Feb. 12. All 30 Dow components fell, with Boeing Co. BA, -18.15% leading the way lower with an 18.2% tumble.

Other key indexes would need to close at or below these levels to enter bear territory, according to Dow Jones Market Data:
S&P 500 SPX, -4.88% — 2,708.92
Nasdaq Composite COMP, -4.70% — 7,853.74
The S&P 500 fell 140.85 points, or 4.9%, to end at 2,741.38 — off 19.04% from its Feb. 19 record close. The Nasdaq dropped 392.20 points, or 4.7%, ending at 7,952.05 — down 19% from its all-time closing high, which was also set on Feb. 19.
See:Coronavirus stock selloff means bull market will ‘soon end’, says Goldman — sees S&P 500 falling another 15%
Stocks saw another day of heavy selling Wednesday, on worries about the economic impact of the COVID-19 epidemic with its disruptions to travel and trade, along with the lack of action on fiscal stimulus by the Trump administration, and a renewed slump in oil prices amid a global price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has hit U.S. energy companies and amplified corporate credit worries.
Stocks suffered their largest one-day plunge since 2008 on Monday, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the start of the S&P 500’s longest bull market in history. Stocks dropped into correction mode — defined as a pullback of 10% — late last month as fears over the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak began to rise.
See: How an ‘oil shock’ and coronavirus combined to spark a global stock-market selloff