S&P 500 closes in bear market territory, reaching lowest level since 2021

June 13 (UPI) -- The S&P 500 closed in bear market territory on Monday, reaching its lowest level since March 2021.

The broad index dropped 3.88% to 3,749.63, falling 21% below its record high. A bear market is considered 20% below a recent record high.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 876.05 points, or 2.79%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 4.68%.

All major S&P 500 sectors declined with energy and consumer discretionary falling more than 4%, while information technology, materials and communication services also dropped more than 3%.

Boeing stock fell 8.77%, Salesforce declined 6.96% and American Express fell 5.25% to weigh down the Dow, while Nvidia, Netflix and Tesla all fell more than 7% to bring down the Nasdaq.

Travel stocks were also big losers Monday with Norwegian Cruise Line dropping 12.3% and Carnival declining 10.32%, while United Airlines fell 10.06%, American Airlines slid 9.45% and Delta declined 8.29%.

Markets hit their lows for the day shortly after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve may consider raising interest rates by 0.75% in its next policy meeting Wednesday.

Monday also saw bitcoin drop 17%, plunging below $23,000 Monday, its lowest level since December 2020, as investors scrambled to dump cryptocurrency and other risk assets.