--- description: This is the market's worst start to a year ever. title: Stock Market See Worst Day in Four Months image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte81c6f52ef63a735/698879650b72e397fb6e7b17/stocks-close-drop-market.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [stocks](/tag/stocks/) ## stocks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Stock Markets See Worst Day in Four Months  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 15, 2016 9:59 PM CUT  Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the end of the day on January 15, 2016 in New York City. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the end of the day on January 15, 2016 in New York City.Spencer Platt—Getty Images  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 15, 2016 9:59 PM CUT The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day [down nearly 2.4%](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/us-markets.html "undefined") Friday, amid fears over plummeting oil prices and a slowdown in China. The rout, which also saw the S&P 500 drop 2.16%, squashed hopes that American markets might dodge the turmoil plaguing international trading floors late this week. It was the [worst ten-day start to a year](http://time.com/money/4182371/stock-market-dow-crash-reasons/?xid=homepage "undefined") since records began. Oil’s fall to levels not seen since 2003 spooked investors for two reasons. First, it’s a nasty turn of events for energy firms, some of which are among the world’s biggest companies. But more broadly speaking, oil is seen as a proxy for global demand. Falling oil prices suggest overall demand is low, a sign the global economy may be cooling off. China’s [deceleration](http://time.com/money/4182480/bear-market-predictions-2016/ "undefined") is another bad sign for investors, as any downturn on the part of the world’s second-largest economy is sure to have negative impacts across the global economy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/"},"headline":"Stock Markets See Worst Day in Four Months","datePublished":"2016-01-15T21:59:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:11:23.470Z","description":"This is the market's worst start to a year ever","url":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/","keywords":["stocks","Business topic","stock","Shares","S&P","Markets","bull market","bear market"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte81c6f52ef63a735/698879650b72e397fb6e7b17/stocks-close-drop-market.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte81c6f52ef63a735/698879650b72e397fb6e7b17/stocks-close-drop-market.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stocks Decline Sharply Following Global Market Sell Off","caption":"Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the end of the day on January 15, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Spencer Platt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/stocks/","name":"stocks"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/","name":"Stock Markets See Worst Day in Four Months"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Are We Headed Toward a Bear Market?","description":"Russ Koesterich of BlackRock weighs in.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UeyP8t23/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-19T22:56:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UeyP8t23.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/","duration":"PT1M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4183195/stock-markets-worst-day/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```