The stock market opened sharply lower Thursday morning, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its first correction in more than two years as investors around the world continued to flee equities amid the rapid spread of COVID-19, the infectious illness that reportedly originated in Wuhan, China late last year and has sickened tens of thousands. The Dow DJIA, -0.87% fell 517 points, or 1.9%, at 26,440, the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.11% fell 2% at 3,054, also not far from correction below 3,047.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.07% declined 2.7% at 8,735. A correction is traditionally defined as a drop of at least 10%, but not more than 20%, from a recent peak. The last time the Dow entered correction was December of 2018, according to Dow Jones Market Data.