Bond Market Suggests 'Monster Under the Bed'

Under ordinary circumstances, a decline of more than 250 points by the Dow would be seen as pretty bad news. But everything's relative this week. The index started off the day with a plunge of more than 700 points and at one point was down nearly 900, but it recovered late to avoid a second straight day of uber-steep losses. For the day, the Dow fell 256 points, or 0.9%, to 25,864; the benchmark S&P 500 fared worse in terms of percentage loss, declining 51 points, or 1.7%, to 2,972; and the Nasdaq fell 162 points, or 1.8%, to 8,575.

Meanwhile, bond yields dropped to historic lows as investors ditched stocks for safer havens amid the coronavirus crisis, notes the Wall Street Journal. “The bond market says the monster under the bed is much bigger and scarier than anyone expects right now,” Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial, tells the AP. Also, the price of oil fell 10%, its worst drop in 10 years. The thinking there is that a business slowdown will reduce demand for it. (More stock market stories.)