Stocks Plunge 10% in Worst Day Since Black Monday

THURSDAY ENDED AS THE Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst day – in terms of value lost – since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

Trading was temporarily halted shortly after markets opened because of the steep declines – the second time the market's fail-safe had been triggered in mid-day trading this week. Both the Dow and the Standard & Poor's 500 closed the day down nearly 10%. The Dow dropped more than 2,300 points.

Outside of Black Monday and twice during the Great Depression of 1929, the Dow hasn't seen a worse day in history.

"Government missteps and inability to contain the rapidly spreading coronavirus is causing global commerce to rapidly grind to a halt," Scott Anderson, chief economist and executive vice president at Bank of the West Economics, wrote in a research note on Thursday.

Companies and state and local governments announced a slew of policy changes and cancellations on Thursday in a bid to slow the spread of the disease in the U.S. More than 1,300 domestic cases have been confirmed. The virus has sickened more than 126,000 around the world, killing more than 4,000.