Two years since pandemic market crash

The effects of the COVID crisis became very real for investors two years ago this week.

Flashback: The S&P fell 7% almost immediately after markets opened on March 16, triggering the third trading halt in a week. 

• Stocks would ultimately bottom out on March 23, in the fastest 30% sell-off ever. 

The big picture: Investors are now having to weigh how the Ukraine crisis and geopolitical fallout will impact their money — just as the pandemic is expected to transition into an endemic.

• “For a year that started with such hope and optimism, many are extremely concerned about the U.S. economy,” Amanda Wallace, head of insurance operations with MassMutual, told CNBC.

My personal flashback: I can still feel the collective tension on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when I covered the beginnings of the crash on live television. The air was choked with suspense, and the din of traders’ phones and alerts filled the air with a thickness like the humidity of a New York City summer.