Business

Past corrections: Drops of 10 percent or more in the S&P 500

06 of February 2018

Specialists Charles Boeddinghaus works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 1,100 points Monday as stocks took their worst loss in six and a half years. (AP Photo/Richard Drew),Specialists Charles Boeddinghaus works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 1,100 points Monday as stocks took their worst loss in six and a half years. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Past corrections, or drops of 10 percent or more, in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

Even after its steep drops Friday and Monday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has yet to decline 10 percent from its most recent peak, which is known on Wall Street as a “correction.”

Not only are corrections common during bull markets, they’re seen as entirely normal and even healthy. They allow markets to remove speculative froth after a big run-up and allow investors to buy stocks at more reasonable prices.

The S&P 500, the market’s most widely used benchmark, is now down 7.8 percent from its most recent peak set on January 26. The S&P 500 has gone without a correction for about two years, an unusually long gap.

Here are the past 10 corrections in the S&P 500 index:

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Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices