The COVID-19 Crash: Full Timeline (2020)

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February 2020: Markets Turn

As COVID-19 spread beyond China, global markets began selling off sharply in late February 2020, on fears of a severe economic shutdown.

March 2020: The Crash

U.S. markets fell into the fastest bear market (a 20%+ decline) in history, with several single-day circuit-breaker trading halts. The Fed made two emergency rate cuts, including slashing rates to near zero on March 15, and launched a massive new round of quantitative easing.

March-April 2020: Fiscal Response

Congress passed the roughly $2 trillion CARES Act in late March 2020, providing stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits, and business relief programs.

Mid-2020 Onward: A Rapid Recovery

Despite the severity of the initial crash, markets recovered with unusual speed, with major indices reclaiming their pre-pandemic highs within months — one of the fastest recoveries from a bear market in history, even as the broader economic recovery (especially employment) took considerably longer.