Markets Tank Again, Near Biggest Weekly Loss Since '08

The market misery continues. The Dow fell 600 points, about 2%, at the open on Friday, mirroring similar falls in Europe and Asia, reports CNBC. The Dow then seemed to stabilize a bit in the opening minutes and was trading down about 500 points before plunging again. It dropped 1,000 points at one point and was down 825 points—and trading below 25,000—at 10:20am ET. The benchmarks S&P 500 and Europe's Stoxx 600 are now on track for their worst weekly drops since 2008, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"We’re drinking from a fireman’s hose this morning," Patrick Spencer, managing director at US investment firm Baird tells the Journal. “It wasn’t a good close last night and certainly panic ensued." One problem is that investors fear businesses will be reeling from a "supply shock" out of China for some time to come because of the coronavirus, per MarketWatch. (Thursday saw the Dow's biggest one-day decline in history in terms of points.)