The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 1,500 points this week, including a 400-point drop on Friday alone, in what CNBC called the worst weekly performance since the 2008 global financial crisis.

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The NASDAQ, another major stock index, fell into a bear market, posting a drop of 22 percent since its peak in August. The index fell more than 8 percent this week alone.

With Friday's close, stocks remained in the red for the year. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed more than 9 percent below their opening value at the start of the year.

December is traditionally a strong month for stocks, but are headed this month to its worst stock performance in December since 1931, during the Great Depression.

Markets are expecting a slowing economy in the coming year. The Federal Reserve projected that economic growth would top out at 3 percent this year, and decelerate to 2.3 percent next year.