SP500 down 20%. We are in bear market territory.
Explanations for cause of this will likely depend on one's political persuasion. Take your pick - 9 years of ultra-low interest rates coming home to roost, inflation fears, rising rates, trade wars, unsustainable global sovereign debt, the leader of the free world with the emotional IQ of a 12 year old, etc. Oddly, the US economy is doing quite well, for now at least.
The only question is how much lower we go.
Important to remember we are still up 250% from market lows in 2009.
Edit: IMO, the article at the link does a great job explaining the core reason for the current market meltdown.
Link: In Defense of The Fed
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Although, they may have expended all their ammunition to get the last one rolling.
Higher wages the vast majority goes to stock buy-backs. Rather than increasing the values stock prices and the market plunge. This is a very bad sign and could signal even worse performance around the corner. Trumpo and Mnuchin are clueless but the banks are a house of cards. Not much has changed since 2008.