The attempted rally in the stock market after opening 1,100 points lower eventually ran out of steam and led to a loss of over 500 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed the day 588.47 points lower, or a 3.6% decline, to finish at 15871.28. The S&P 500 fell 77.68 points, or 3.9%, ending at 1893.21. The Nasdaq Composite fell 179.79 points, down 3.8%, to 4526.25.
The Dow at one point rallied more than 800 points after the largest one-day decline during intraday trading but ran out of steam at the end of the session. Mutual funds and hedge funds began to scoop up cheap stocks that led to the initial rally and moderation of market bounce-back.
“When a big selloff comes, it tends to be herd mentality,” said Ryan Larson, head of U.S. equity trading for RBC Global Asset Management, told the Wall Street Journal. “But once that herd gets out of the way, there can be some very good buying opportunities.”
One investment advisor tried to downplay the significance of the fall by saying the U.S. economy is strong.
“Stock prices have dropped sharply and fears have increased sharply,” said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. “But it’s really important to keep in mind while stock prices have changed and obviously emotions have changed, fundamentals for the U.S. haven’t changed. Even with China selling sharply and emerging markets selling off, we’re still seeing solid U.S. economic growth.”
Although one market advisor says fear is now in control.
“Fear has taken over. The market topped out last week,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital, told CNBC. “We saw important technical levels break last week. Huge shift in investor psychology.”
The markets were heavily impacted by China’s massive 8.5% decline which sent the market into negative territory for the year. Other world markets were rocked by the action: Japan’s Nikkei fell 4.6%, the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 fell 5.3%, Germany’s DAX fell 4.7% and is now 20% below an April peak.
The Dow had entered what is considered a market correction on Friday, falling 10 percent from a recent peak.
The stock that drew the biggest attention at the market opening today, Apple, rallied from falling below $100 a share to finish at $103.07, just over $2.00 a share lower from Friday’s close.