Dow Jones Drops 900 Points on Opening Bell as New COVID-19 Variant Roils Markets

A trader works on the floor before the closing bell of the Dow Jones at the New York Stock Exchange on March 21, 2017. Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images

The Dow Jones fell over 900 points just after opening bell on Nov. 26, with other major Wall Street stock indexes—and risk assets more generally—also seeing sell-offs as news of a new COVID-19 variant spreading in South Africa seems to have sparked a broader risk-off sentiment among investors.

By 10:30 a.m. New York time, the Dow was down around 870 points, or 2.44 percent, after briefly falling more than 900 points before seeing a slight relief rally. The benchmark S&P 500 fell nearly 100 points, or around 2 percent, after markets opened, and by 10:30 a.m. was trading down around 89 points, or 1.89 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down around 200 points, or 1.23 percent.