Stocks sink nearly 6%

The S&P 500 closed 5.9% lower on Thursday — the worst decline for the index since March — while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.9% (over 1,800 points), and the Nasdaq dropped 5.3%.

Why it matters: It's a pause in an epic Wall Street rally that has seen stocks recover about 40% since the worst of the coronavirus sell-off in March — despite the economy's slide into possibly one of the deepest recessions of all time.