A weekslong selloff took on new intensity Friday, sending the S&P 500 tumbling into bear market territory for the first time since the pandemic-driven selloff of 2020.
Stocks rose at the open, then reversed course, falling throughout the session. The S&P 500 slumped 1.8%, on track to close at least 20% below its January peak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed about 467 points, or 1.5%, to 20801. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 2.6%.
It has been decades since stocks have fallen for such a prolonged period. The Dow industrials are headed toward their eighth straight weekly loss, their longest such streak since 1932, near the height of the Great Depression. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on course for their longest streak of weekly losses since 2001, after the dot-com bubble burst.
The driving force behind the selloff, investors say, is growing fears…
