For the first time since the beginning of the stock market’s recent dramatic downturn two weeks ago investors are starting to use the phrase “bear market” to describe what may be currently happening on Wall Street. Stocks closed down 2% after hitting a near 15-month low on low oil prices. The price of a barrel of oil plunged 5.7% on continued fears of China’s failing economy, to close at $29.65/barrel.
The headline on CNBC at one point today was very stark:
“Stock prices are cratering in a risk-off selling spree amid fears that oil’s decline is signaling a global slowdown that will end in a bear market and recession.”
More from CNBC’s Michael Santoli below.
The Dow fell more than 500 points at one point , trading below 16,000 for the first time since October. The S&P 500, off nearly 3 percent, is now down 8.5 % since the start of the new year. The S&P was hovering just above last year’s low of 1,867. Today was by far the worst sell-off of the 2016 correction so far.
Leon Cooperman, CEO of Omega Advisors said on CNBC’s “Fast Money: Halftime Report” today that we’re not in a bear market just yet.
Here are the final numbers from Friday, 1/15/16 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 15,988.08 (-390.97/ -2.39%)
NASDAQ: 4,488.42 (-126.59/ -2.74%)
S&P 500: 1,880.29 (-41.45 / -2.16%)
