When we first heard of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) several months ago, no one could have predicted the measures that have been taken to date. As the virus spreads throughout the world, necessary precautions are being taken to limit the spread of the disease and to prevent overwhelming the health care system.

We are in the midst of another historic week in equity markets, which started Monday with a shock to oil prices following an unproductive weekend meeting between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Russia’s unwillingness to cut production led to Saudi Arabia flooding the market with oil and pushing oil prices down to nearly $30 a barrel. The S&P was down on Monday -7.6%, partially due to oil prices and partially reflecting ongoing concern about COVID-19.

As the impact of COVID-19 (the coronavirus) continues to spread throughout the globe, investment markets have been fraught with volatility. Since the most recent peak on February 19th, the S&P 500 is down 12.3% through last Friday, and 8.3% for the year. Historically, a drop of 10% or more is considered a market correction, and the most recent occurrence is the fastest in history, occurring in only six days. There have been 27 market corrections since World War II, with an average decline of 13.7% taking an average of four months. To say this past week was unique is an understatement.