U.S. stock benchmarks on Thursday finished more than 4% lower and tumbled into correction territory as a sharp retreat for risk assets accelerated into the close on Wall Street. Fears about an outbreak of COVID-19, the infectious disease that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China, late last year, have helped to drive stock benchmarks sharply lower this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.81% closed down about 1,200 points, or 4.4%, at 25,763, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -2.41% closed down 4.4% at 2,978, breaking below a psychological level at 3,000, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.84% finished off 4.6% at 8,566. A correction is widely viewed as a 10% drop from a recent peak, but not greater than 20%.