Markets record the worst week since the global financial crisis

The S&P 500 index tumbled 11.5% last week while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 12.4% as the spread of COVID-19 outside China intensified. Both benchmarks suffered the worst weekly drops since the global financial crisis in 2008.

However, the fall in the price of equities as a result of worries about a pandemic isn’t totally unprecedented. In early 2003, the S&P 500 index dropped by about 14% after the market participants reacted to the spread of SARS. As it became clear that the virus was contained, it only took 56 days for the markets to recover to levels prior to the crash.