Investors got a rude awakening Monday.
U.S. stocks started the day with declines. And then an acceleration occurred late in the trading day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -4.60% eventually closing down 1,175 points, or 4.6%, at 24,346. The S&P 500 Index SPX, -4.10% tumbled 4.1% to 2,649.
For perspective, it has been only two months (Dec. 8) since the Dow closed at a lower level than it did Monday. Look at this chart:
Despite the 1,000-plus drop in the Dow, it wasn’t the worst day for the index. That honor goes to Oct. 19, 1987, so-called Black Monday, when it plunged 22.6%.
Here’s a summary showing Dow and S&P 500 price changes, with the S&P 500 sectors sorted by how much they fell Monday:
The Dow is now down 1.5% for 2018, but that follows a gain of 25.1% in 2017. The S&P 500 is now down 0.9% this year, following last year’s 19.4% advance. None of the figures in this article include dividends, by the way.
More perspective — the three-year chart for the S&P 500 features two major temporary pullbacks for the benchmark index in 2015:
From Aug. 17 through Aug. 25, 2015, the benchmark index declined 11%, before recovering and then rising to a new closing high on Nov. 3 of that year. From that high, it bounced around and then decreased 13% through Feb. 12, 2016, before resuming a long upward climb. From Jan. 26, 2018, until Monday, the decline totaled 8%.
The worst sector on Monday was financials, down 5%. It has fallen 0.2% in 2018, following a 20% gain in 2017.
Health care was the second-worst sector Monday, with a 4.6% drop. It’s still up 0.4% for 2018, extending last year’s 20% increase. This pattern doesn’t hold for all the sectors, but it sure does for the broad indices.
Dow summary
All 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Monday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change - Feb. 5 | Price change - 2018 through Feb. 5 | Price change - 2017 |
| Boeing Co. | BA, -5.74% | -5.7% | 11.5% | 89.4% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, -5.69% | -5.7% | -4.7% | -7.3% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, -5.60% | -5.6% | -1.7% | 31.8% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, -5.60% | -5.6% | -3.4% | 41.4% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, -5.48% | -5.5% | -0.3% | 16.4% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, -5.25% | -5.4% | 1.1% | 26.7% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, -5.30% | -5.3% | -4.3% | 11.5% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, -5.29% | -5.3% | -6.7% | 21.3% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, -5.11% | -5.1% | -0.2% | 37.8% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, -5.03% | -5.0% | -10.0% | 6.4% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, -4.83% | -4.8% | -7.4% | 34.1% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM, -4.80% | -4.8% | 1.7% | 23.9% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, -4.68% | -4.7% | -4.6% | -0.8% |
| General Electric Co. | GE, -4.67% | -4.7% | -14.6% | -44.8% |
| Travelers Cos. | TRV, -4.35% | -4.3% | 4.3% | 10.8% |
| DowDuPont Inc. | DWDP, -4.30% | -4.3% | -4.7% | 24.5% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, -4.21% | -4.2% | 2.9% | 23.1% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, -4.20% | -4.2% | -2.2% | 6.4% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, -4.20% | -4.2% | 1.4% | 42.9% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, -4.12% | -4.1% | 2.9% | 37.7% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, -4.09% | -4.1% | -0.6% | -7.6% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, -4.07% | -4.1% | -4.1% | 69.9% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, -3.94% | -3.9% | -2.2% | 10.7% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, -3.84% | -3.8% | 2.0% | 46.1% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, -3.79% | -3.8% | -11.8% | 9.3% |
| Merck & Co. | MRK, -3.69% | -3.7% | 0.2% | -4.4% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, -3.68% | -3.7% | -2.6% | 3.2% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, -3.53% | -3.5% | -3.6% | 27.3% |
| McDonald's Corp. | MCD, -3.26% | -3.3% | -4.8% | 41.4% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, -2.50% | -2.5% | -7.5% | 46.1% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
S&P 500 losers
There are actually 505 stocks in the S&P 500, because several companies have two classes of common shares in the index. Monday’s decline was incredibly broad — all but two S&P 500 stocks were down. Shares of Church & Dwight Co. CHD, +2.35% rose 2.4% to close at $47.42, while TripAdvisor Inc. TRIP, +3.70% was up 3.7% to close at $35.62.
Here are the 10 worst performers among S&P 500 companies on Monday:
| Company | Ticker | Price change - Feb. 5 | Price change - 2018 through Feb. 5 | Price change - 2017 |
| Wells Fargo & Co. | WFC, -9.22% | -9.2% | -4.1% | 10.1% |
| Arconic Inc. | ARNC, -8.90% | -8.9% | -2.7% | 47.0% |
| Nvidia Corp. | NVDA, -8.49% | -8.5% | 10.4% | 81.3% |
| Chesapeake Energy Corp. | CHK, -7.21% | -7.2% | -22.0% | -43.6% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, -7.07% | -7.1% | 12.5% | -9.3% |
| Hess Corp. | HES, -6.91% | -6.9% | -6.3% | -23.8% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | VRTX, -6.68% | -6.7% | 3.5% | 103.4% |
| Newell Brands Inc. | NWL, -6.65% | -6.6% | -15.5% | -30.8% |
| Qualcomm Inc. | QCOM, -6.57% | -6.6% | -3.6% | -1.8% |
| Amgen Inc. | AMGN, -6.56% | -6.6% | 0.5% | 18.9% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, -9.22% was the worst-performing S&P 500 stock Monday, which may not have been a major surprise after regulators took very unusual actions against the bank.