Dow Jones loses most points ever in single day

SAN FRANCISCO

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 1,000 points Monday.

The Dow plunged 1,175 points to end the day at 24,345, down 4.60 percent. In terms of points, it was the worst day of losses since the index was created in 1896.

Investors continued the sharp sell-off that began Friday into another week. On Friday, the Dow dropped 666 points.

The index is now below 25,000 points for the first time since Jan. 4, meaning the Dow has lost all of the points it gained throughout the first month of the year. On Jan. 26, it closed at an all-time high of 26,616.71 points.

At some points Monday, the Dow had lost a total of 1,500 points, although it corrected a bit through the afternoon.

The previous record for daily point losses was set on Sept. 29, 2008 at the start of the global financial crisis, when the Dow fell 777.68.

Analysts are pointing to an employment report by the government as the main reason for the sudden sell-off.

On Friday, the Department of Labor said 200,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month and that American unemployment was staying at 4.1 percent, the lowest rate in nearly 20 years. Beyond the low unemployment rate, the Labor Department said average hourly wages grew 2.9 percent during the first month of this year compared to January of 2017. The increase was the highest since the middle of 2009.

Although he often heralded the rising Dow throughout the past year as a marker of his success, President Donald Trump was quiet about the current collapse on Twitter Monday.

Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah downplayed the sudden Dow drop.

“Look, markets do fluctuate in the short term,” Shah said. “We all know that. And they do that for a number of reasons. But the fundamentals of this economy are very strong and they’re headed in the right direction — for the middle class, in particular.”