11 June 2020: The Dow plunges 1,861 points
On June 11, 2020 the Dow fell about 1,861 points, or nearly 7%, its worst day since March, as coronavirus cases rose again and the Fed warned of a long recovery. Many of the airline, cruise and retail stocks that had bounced back sharply led the fall. The selloff soon passed, but it showed how fragile the recovery rally was in its early weeks.
The lesson: Rebounds are rarely straight lines; expect sharp setbacks even when the long trend is up.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in S&P 500 index fund at the start of 2020 → $2,092 today, vs $2,092 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2020, the year it happened. That is 2.1 times the money, but $0 less than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What S&P 500 index fund teaches: Owning the whole market removes the risk of picking the wrong company but not the risk of a lost decade, so time horizon matters as much as diversification.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $2,060 | $3,301 | $3,301 |
| 2018 | $2,700 | $2,519 | $2,519 |
| 2020 | $3,250 | $2,092 | $2,092 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought S&P 500 index fund? Every starting year and the full story →
More S&P 500 index fund history
- 5 February 2018: Volmageddon: the Dow drops 1,175 points
- 19 February 2020: The S&P 500 hits a record before COVID
- 29 February 2020: The US reports its first COVID-19 death
- 3 March 2020: The Fed makes an emergency rate cut
- 6 March 2009: The S&P 500 touches 666
- 9 March 2009: The bear market bottoms
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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