US stocks were hammered again on Friday, pushing Wall Street into bear market status amid inflation and recession fears and leaving investors on their longest losing streak since the Great Depression by at least one key measure.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell as much as 2.3%, leaving it 21% below the all-time high that it reached in January and essentially ending a bull market run that began in March 2020. The S&P is considered the most accurate measure of US stock market performance, as it’s broader-based than the 30-member Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is made up entirely of blue-chip securities.
The Dow slid as much as 617 points, down 2% on the day and 16% year to date. The blue-chip index was on pace to cap a weekly decline of more than 4%, marking its eighth straight weekly drop and the longest such losing streak since 1932, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That year marked the Dow’s lowest point of the Great Depression.