section_path: Financial crisis
section_name: Financial crisis
paragraph_text: Financial crisis
  
  The 2020 stock market crash began on 20 February 2020, although the economic aspects of the COVID-19 recession began to materialize in late 2019. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, global markets, banks and businesses were all facing crises not seen since the Great Depression in 1929.
  
  From 24 to 28 February, stock markets declined the most in a week since the 2008 financial crisis, thus entering a correction. Global markets into early March became extremely volatile, with large swings occurring. On 9 March, most global markets reported severe contractions, mainly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an oil price war between Russia and the OPEC countries led by Saudi Arabia. This became colloquially known as Black Monday I, and at the time was the worst drop since the Great Recession in 2008.
  
  Three days after Black Monday I there was another drop, Black Thursday, where stocks across Europe and North America fell more than 9%. Wall Street experienced its largest single-day percentage drop since Black Monday in 1987, and the FTSE MIB of the Borsa Italiana fell nearly 17%, becoming the worst-hit market during Black Thursday. Despite a temporary rally on 13 March (with markets posting their best day since 2008), all three Wall Street indexes fell more than 12% when markets re-opened on 16 March. During this time, one benchmark stock market index in all G7 countries and 14 of the G20 countries had been declared to be in Bear markets.