Stock Market "stopped" today

[Flint]

Six minutes after the stock market opened, the S&P 500 index dropped 7% below yesterday's close, triggering an automatic "circuit breaker"

Under market rules, circuit breakers kick in at three thresholds:

• Level 1: A drop of 7% from the prior day's closing price in the S&P 500 triggers a 15-minute trading halt. Trading is not halted if the drop occurs at or after 3:25 p.m. ET.
• Level 2: A drop of 13% triggers a 15-minute halt. Trading is not halted if the drop occurs at or after 3:25 p.m. ET.
• Level 3: A drop of 20% triggers a halt for the rest of the trading day and trading resumes the following day.

The circuit breakers were adopted in the wake of the Black Monday crash of Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow plunged 508 points, or 22%.

My understanding is that the already Corona virus-spooked market was also reacting to a drop in Saudi oil prices.

It's hard not to think this will all have an impact on the Presidential race, wherein the incumbent vociferously cites performance of the financial market as his key accomplishment-- which is seemingly self-evident and immune to rebuttal, notwithstanding that the market has been boosting itself with stock buybacks purchased via tax-cut windfalls.

As a wise meme once said, "When the stock market is doing good, it benefits like 100 people; but when it does bad, everyone loses their house, savings, and retirement."