Just weeks after hitting a record high, stocks spiraled dangerously close to a bear market in early April, then snapped like a bungee cord as the Trump administration's on-again, off-again tariffs whipsawed investors.
From its peak on February 19, the S&P 500 Index fell to within 1.1 percentage points of bear-market territory, defined as a drop of 20% or more, as Trump's tariff war escalated. More than $5 trillion in market value was erased in just a few days.
