According to The LATimes, the main trigger was growing concern about rising interest rates and inflation, and their impact on stocks going forward, as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note reached its highest peak in four years, analysts said.
But they said that many of the fundamental factors that have driven stocks higher — including rising corporate earnings — remain intact, and that Friday's trading had no signs of panic selling.
"The fundamentals are still OK," said Patrick O'Hare, chief market analyst at the investing website Briefing.com. "The easy money had been made, and it will be more challenging to extend the gains as interest rates move higher."
The Dow Jones industrials fell 665.75 points to 25,520.96. That was the worst point drop since the blue-chip average fell 678.92 points on Oct. 9, 2008, in the midst of the nation's financial crisis.
Media stocks, with a few notable exceptions, were battered Friday.
Of the 50 stocks tracked by The Hollywood Reporter, 39 of them were down on Friday, including Walt Disney (off 2 percent), Time Warner (down 3 percent), CBS (off 6 percent), Viacom (down 4 percent), Comcast (off 2 percent) and 21st Century Fox (down 1 percent).
Sony, which recently posted stellar quarterly earnings, especially in its entertainment division, was the only major media conglomerate to trade higher on Friday, closing up 6 percent. Other exceptions Friday included Netflix and Amazon, up 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Both of those new-media powerhouses recently reported good quarterly earnings.
The stock market has been on a roll since Donald Trump's election to the presidency — and the president often tweets about the bull market — but media stocks have largely not participated in the run-up. On Friday, some analysts were saying the plunge was a market "correction" as they expect that recent tax cuts should keep the economy humming.
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