Stock prices, down for the third day in a row, lost as much as 2.91 percent-the S&P500- at the close.
There have been 114 three-successive-down-days since January 2000; that is a little more than one trading session in twenty.
Dips as deep as minus two percent on the third consecutive day are uncommon; the DJIA had only five in this century, the last one in 2002. The S&P500 had nine, and also non since 2002. The NASDAQ leads this category with 13, the last of which was last month, in December 2007.
Looking at the record to see what might be in store, the table shows that the NASDAQ had as many up days as down days after three consecutive losses. The DJIA has a greater ratio: 1.3 up days for every down day, while the S&P500 leads this category with a ratio of 1.65 up to down days.
DJIA -2.46 percent
NASDAQ -1.99 percent
S&P500 -2.91 percent