S&P 500 ends September down 4.8%, worst since March 2020
Stocks on Wall Street fell broadly Thursday, closing out September with their worst monthly loss since the beginning of the pandemic.
The S&P 500 ended the month 4.8% lower, its first monthly drop since January and the biggest since March 2020, when the viral outbreak rattled markets as it wreaked havoc with the global economy.
The S&P 500 fell 51.92 points, or 1.2%, to 4,307.54, and is now 5.1% below its all-time high set on Sept. 2. The September swoon cut into the index’s gains for the third quarter, leaving it only 0.2% higher. That’s its smallest quarterly gain since the pandemic first stunned the economy and financial markets. The benchmark index is still up 14.7% for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 546.80 points, or 1.6%, to 33,843.92, while the Nasdaq slid 63.86 points, or 0.4%, to 14,448.58. Small company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 index fell 20.94 points, or 0.9%, to 2,204.37.