The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 900 points on Friday to close the worst week in more than a decade. [CNBC] The week saw a 17% decline, just shy of the 18.2% drop in October of 2008. The Dow is now 35% below its all time high in February—a remarkably rapid reversal.

A host of factors drove the value losses. Oil, which had seen some moderate gains during the week, had another steep selloff. The final price settled substantially lower, leaving investors scrambling to unload the commodity for others.

Additionally, stiff ‘stay at home’ orders in New York and California led to an overall concern about the economy. As workers are unable to earn, and consumers are unable to shop, the economic toll of COVID-19 appears to have legs.

Fear or Fact?

The overall market confusion has left analysts scratching their heads. While the decline has certainly been spurred by the impact of the virus, there also appears to be irrational fears associated with the decline.

For example, Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ, explained that markets were trading more by emotion that fact. He said:

“We’ve seen assets just trade off, really for no good reason, but just because there’s fear. When we look back at this, we’ll see how much of this was information-based trading and how much was emotionally based trading.”

Bitcoin bounce

As stocks closed down, Bitcoin had a moderately positive week. The selloff that left the price briefly under $4,000 bounced back, with prices settling above $6,000.

Some have argued that the price increases have been a ‘decoupling’ from the stock market. Others, however, suggest that the new-found stability is likely due to a new value reset after the selloff.

As fear continues to drive traders in both Bitcoin and equities, the future is unclear. Markets continue to show dramatic volatility, and investors have been broadly concerned to reenter. After such a painful week, traders are hoping for better things.