Stock market drops of 1% or 2% are common. What investors should do

Stocks are wobbling amid a U.S. warfare with Iran, and investors may feel anxious.

However volatility is a standard characteristic of the inventory market. Certainly, drops of 1%, 2% or extra in a given day — although they could really feel nauseating on the time — occur extra typically than it’s possible you’ll assume.

The S&P 500 U.S. inventory index, for instance, has fallen 1% or extra on 1,001 days over the previous 30 years — or, about 33 days per yr, on common, in line with a Morningstar Direct evaluation of market information since 1996.

Over the identical interval, the index slipped at the very least 2% on 313 days, in line with Morningstar. That is a mean of about 10 days per yr.

“That is virtually as soon as a month,” Charlie Fitzgerald III, an authorized monetary planner based mostly in Orlando, mentioned of the info.

“These little blips occur very often,” mentioned Fitzgerald, who’s a founding member of Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo, which ranked No. 69 on CNBC’s 2025 Financial Advisor 100.

“It is what inventory markets do, and it is what they’ve carried out for 100 years,” he mentioned.

Traders noticed such a drop earlier this week as they digested the prospect of a broadening battle within the Center East, and what it may imply for oil costs and the broader U.S. and world economies. For instance, the S&P 500 closed 1% decrease on Tuesday, and at one level within the day, it was down round 2%.

“That is type of a basic geopolitical shock,” Fitzgerald mentioned.

The monetary markets are inclined to take a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality when extrapolating from headlines about such conflicts, Scott Wren, senior world market strategist at Wells Fargo Funding Institute, mentioned Wednesday in a market commentary.

“We consider traders have to attempt to maintain a transparent head, look by way of the headlines, and persist with a properly thought out plan,” Wren wrote. “A diversified portfolio is one key to that plan.”

On a single day in the beginning of the Covid pandemic — on March 16, 2020 — the S&P 500 sank about 12%. Shares declined roughly 34% between Feb. 19, 2020, and the market backside on March 23. Nonetheless, shares rebounded with vigor and had been again to their outdated highs by August — the quickest restoration of its type in historical past.

Extra just lately, after President Donald Trump introduced so-called “liberation day” tariffs, the S&P 500 index fell nearly 5% on April 3, 2025 — its worst day since June 2020. The market shed about 12% between April 2 and eight, however had totally recovered by early Could, only a month later.

Since 1996, there have been 21 days through which the S&P 500 plunged 5% or extra, Morningstar discovered — amounting to a each day lower of that dimension yearly and a half or so, on common.

Regardless of the frequency of steep drops for shares, the S&P 500 has risen 0.03% a day on common over the past 30 years, leading to a typical annual return of greater than 10%, in line with Morningstar.

Consequently, a $10,000 funding within the S&P 500 in the beginning of 1996 could be price round $192,000, as of Wednesday, Morningstar discovered.

“Brief-term shocks are tough to foretell and steadily adopted by recoveries,” mentioned Amy Arnott, a portfolio strategist at Morningstar.

“Traders are higher served by specializing in a sound, long-term asset allocation and staying disciplined reasonably than getting distracted by exterior occasions,” Arnott mentioned.