Remember that March 13, 2020 market crash? Still wild to think about how fast things moved that day. U.S. stocks absolutely tanked, with all three major indexes closing deep in the red as coronavirus fears just kept piling on. The Dow Jones dropped 10% to close at 21,200.62, the S&P 500 fell 9.5% to 2,480.64, and the Nasdaq lost 9.4% hitting 7,201.80. Honestly brutal stuff - both the Dow and S&P 500 had their worst day since the 1987 Black Monday crash. That fear gauge, the VIX, was sitting at 68.19 showing just how panicked markets had gotten.

What made it worse was that even the Fed's emergency moves couldn't stop the bleeding. They announced they'd pump $1.5 trillion into the financial system starting March 12-13, offering $500 billion in three-month repo operations and planning a $500 billion one-month repo the following day. Sounds like a lot, but investors were still spooked about supply chain disruptions and corporate profit hits from the outbreak.

Then there was the political side. Trump and the top Republicans weren't backing the House Democrats' coronavirus aid bill on March 12. The whole thing was messy - Trump wanted a payroll tax cut through end of 2020, but Democrats were pushing for paid sick leave, expanded unemployment insurance, and free coronavirus testing. That political gridlock just added to the market anxiety.

On the economic data front, producer prices actually fell 0.6% in February - biggest drop in five years. Initial jobless claims for the week ending March 7 came in at 211,000, down 4,000 from the previous week. Meanwhile, Apple had just reopened its 42 China retail stores after weeks of closures, and UPS announced Carol Tome would be taking over as CEO from David Abney starting June 1. The market was clearly in full panic mode that March 13, 2020 period.