(Bloomberg) -- The S&P 500 rose almost 29% over the course of 2019, good for the second-best year of the bull market. It took a little under four weeks to fall apart.
A rout that reached 11% on Monday briefly pushed the benchmark to 2,402, below its level of two New Years ago. Even after paring the decline at midday stocks were down more than 20% this year.
Extreme investor anxiety was on display on Monday after the second emergency Federal Reserve cut in two weeks proved too little to comfort investors obsessed with the coronavirus and its effect on the economy. The CBOE Volatility Index, known as the fear gauge, jumped as high as 76.4, just shy of its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
The chief market strategist at Canaccord Genuity LLC has suspended his year-end price-target of 3,440 for the S&P 500, while Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin warns the S&P 500 may not bottom until 2,000.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Elena Popina in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Courtney Dentch at [email protected]
Chris Nagi