Is big swoon sign market calm is over?

Volatility is making a comeback on Wall Street.

It took two consecutive days of steep drops in the stock market to remind people that the long period of calm in markets may be coming to an end.

The Dow Jones industrial average made headlines Tuesday when it plunged more than 400 points at one point before closing down nearly 363 points, or 1.4%, at 26,076.89. It was the blue-chip stock index’s largest one-day fall since May 17, 2017, when it tumbled more than 373 points. The Dow also fell 177 points Monday, marking its worst back-to-back point losses since late June 2016, following Britain’s vote to exit the European Union.

The main narrative for the past 19 months has been how calm the market has been at a time when stock prices were rising with few big down days to shake investors. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index, according to LPL Financial, had gone a record 112 trading days without suffering a 1% drop — until Tuesday when it fell 1.09%. And the large-company stock index hasn’t suffered a “pullback,” or a drop of 5%, since the middle of 2016, also a record.

But back-to-back sell-offs on Wall Street may have revised the storyline. It could also foreshadow a year with multiple downdrafts. “The recent streak of tranquility is one for the ages, and we don’t think it will continue much longer,” John Lynch, chief investment strategist at LPL Financial said. But the end of the tranquil period, he adds, doesn’t necessarily mean the bull market is over. Still, investors should “prepare for the possibility of a ... bumpier ride.”