The S&P 500 fell by 97.68 points, and the Nasdaq Composite had lost 255.67 points at market closing time, adding to the sharp decline already endured by US stocks this week.
“Volatility is normal,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, told CNBC on Tuesday. “What’s scary about this particular drop from the all-time high is it has snuck up on us so quickly in a short period of time.”
On Monday, the market endured a loss of more than 1,031 points, marking the largest one-day drop in the last six months.
“When you juxtapose that against a mentality of ‘we don’t know how big this thing can get,’ that makes it feel like it’s a bottomless reaction in the market,” Hogan added.
The market's recent downward spiral comes amid investors' increased anxiety surrounding the continued spread of the coronavirus in and outside of China, and its impact on the global economy.
US health officials spoke with uncertainty on Tuesday as they announced the spread of the disease throughout the country has prompted the government to prepare for a potential pandemic.
“We expect we will see community spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported the Wall Street Journal. “It’s more of a question of when.”
South Korea, the country with the highest number of confirmed coronvirus cases outside of mainland China, is nearing a total of 1,000 infections and has raised its alert level to "grave."
Worldwide, at least 80,410 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, and 2,708 individuals have lost their lives to the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
