(Simultaneously published at Money Daily)

March 12, 2020

Wednesday, at 2:18 pm Eastern Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank into bear market territory on an intraday basis when it broke below 23,654.72, officially marking the end of the 11-year bull run since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-09.

By the close of trading, the Dow also fell into bear market territory on a closing basis, finishing below 23,641.14.

Falling as low as 23,338.96 shortly after 3:00 pm, a brief attempt at a rally was undertaken, but eventually failed, leaving the market in tatters, and the future uncertain.

Wednesday night, President Trump made a brief televised appearance, outlining the government's steps to curb the global pandemic that is COVID-19, banning all travel from Europe to the United States for 30 days, beginning at midnight, Friday, the 13th of March. The president also instructed the Small Business Administration to extend loans to small businesses and to increase funding for the program by $50 billion.

These measures are being implemented to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus that has spread globally to 115 countries, sickening more than 127,000 people and killing 4,717. There have been 1323 cases of COVID-19 in the United States and 38 deaths. The numbers have jumped dramatically over the past week, both in the US and around the world, especially in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany.

With markets opening in minutes, and stock futures at distressed levels, this evolving story will be updated during the trading session.

At the Close, Wednesday, March 11, 2020:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 23,553.22, -1,464.94 (-5.86%)
NASDAQ: 7,952.05, -392.20 (-4.70%)
S&P 500: 2,741.38, -140.85 (-4.89%)
NYSE: 11,177.29 -615.99 (-5.22%)